Your Vote Matters: How a National Election May Increase Homelessness in New York City

 Your Vote Matters: How a National Election May Increase Homelessness in New York City

by Anikka Green, Volunteer Blog Writer for Mentor A Promise

September 9, 2026

Photo by danijelala

2026 is an election year in the United States. While the presidency won’t be on the ballot, almost all congressional seats will be up for grabs in November’s midterm election. Even though congresspeople operate within the federal government, it’s the citizens of their local districts who send them to the nation’s capital to look out for their best interests.  

For those born, raised, and residing in urban, low income, and/or impoverished communities throughout the US, there’s a popular sentiment that floats around in social media, particularly when the presidency comes up for vote. Typically, the post or meme includes two identical side-by-side images of an impoverished city block with a caption that says something like “the hood with a Democratic president vs the hood with a Republican president.” The point: it doesn’t matter who gets into office, nothing changes. The underlying question behind such posts is why vote if the “hood,” with all its issues and struggles, remains the same.

But the problem with these types of posts and the sentiments behind them is that this is often untrue. While frustration from the citizenry is warranted, particularly with the current level of political polarization, voting still remains an effective way to not only enact the change we wish to see, but also to maintain the programs put into effect to assist the most vulnerable communities and citizens among us. For proof, consider the election of New York City Mayor, Zohran Mamdani. 

Dubbed a “democratic socialist” for waging a campaign that promised seemingly unattainable goals that serve and put power in the hands of everyday New Yorkers, not only did Mr. Mamdani win the election over more established candidates, in less than a year since taking office, he’s managed to successfully make good on some of those campaign promises, including launching free childcare initiatives; implementing a rent freeze program and going after bad landlords through a reinstated office for tenant rights; enacting reforms to help small business owners; and even fixing 100,000 potholes throughout the city, a particularly daunting task after a harsh, icy New York City winter. 

In addition to making good on campaign promises, there’s evidence that Mamdani’s election is having a ripple effect, causing less conventional, democratic socialist candidates to gain ground in other areas of the country as well. That’s because New York is just one of many cities in the United States – a country where states, and the cities within them, may have their own systems of government, but the politics of each one affects the others, if not the country as a whole. The idea that voting, across elections, does nothing to effect change is proven to be a false one when the “Mamdani effect” is taken into account. 

 

For additional proof of US interconnectedness and the effects of voting, New Yorkers and residents of many other cities across the country can look at the current status of the Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) program. While managed by the housing offices in participating states and cities, the program is funded by the federal government – specifically, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Initially signed into law under President Biden in 2021, the current administration has decided to cut the funds four years ahead of schedule. In a June 2025 notice to local housing agencies, HUD cited “rising rental costs” as the reason for termination of the EHV fund, encouraging the transition of EHV recipients to alternative housing assistance programs. In New York City, one of the agencies managing the EHV program is NYCHA, or the New York City Housing Authority, which has encouraged EHV recipients to submit public housing applications. At the time of this April 2026 news report by WABC, the waitlist for NYCHA public housing stood at 150,000. 

By the end of 2026, local “hoods” may look very different than they did before as a direct result of a national, presidential election. Thousands of families who rely on a locally-administered program for housing stability that was funded, and now terminated, by the federal government could end up on the streets with nowhere to go for shelter.

In fairness, the reason HUD gave for cutting EHV funding is a real concern. Across the country, the cost of rent has indeed increased since the Biden administration enacted the law that created the EHV program. There’s also no way to definitively say that the program would not have been terminated had Kamala Harris won the 2024 election instead of Donald Trump. However, the fact remains that the current administration terminated a program early that was initially put in place to help housing insecure families until the year 2030.

The fate of the EHV program is proof that national elections can and do affect local policies, so everyone who is eligible to vote should do so, whether the election is local, national, or both. Voters should do their research, carefully considering the campaigns, policies, promises, and plans of all candidates and proposed initiatives, and then, they should VOTE. They should vote for the communities, cities, and states that they wish to see, as well as the country in which they want to live. One that cares for neighbors, coworkers, schoolmates, countrymen as well as themselves and their families. 

While political polarization is frustrating and often feels hopeless, voting is the easiest way to play the hand we’ve been dealt. Our options aren’t always good, and sometimes our preferred candidates lose, but lucky for us, we’re the only ones who can take us out of the game. As long as we show up, we get to play another hand every time we get the opportunity to vote for a representative or official or president that aligns closest with what we would like to see for our city, country, or world.

While Mayor Mamdani, NYCHA, and leaders tasked with eradicating homelessness in New York City work to assist those directly affected by termination of the EHV program, something we ordinary citizens can do to affect change is support organizations working tirelessly to provide assistance and support to housing insecure families. One such organization is Mentor a Promise, a nonprofit that works to combat homelessness through access to education. To volunteer, donate, or partner with us, visit mentorapromise.org/get-involved.