The New York City Council took a rare step on Thursday by overriding Mayor Eric Adams' veto on a package of crucial housing bills.

The vote came after weeks of mounting tension between the council and the mayor, reaching a point where council leaders sarcastically rewrote an op-ed by Adams, in which he defended his veto.

As City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams voted Thursday afternoon, she said many council members have family members who have relied on city shelters for temporary housing.

“This is a personal matter to many of us,” she said. “The fact that we have to override a veto is incomprehensible to me.”

In a statement released after the vote, the mayor said his team was "reviewing our options and next steps," adding that his administration would "continue to do all that we can to build more housing and tackle decades of exclusionary zoning policies that have prevented our city from building an adequate housing supply." 

"Unlike the council, we do not, however, believe that New Yorkers should spend $17 billion on a package of bills that would put New Yorkers in shelter at the back of the line for a CityFHEPS voucher and make it harder for them to find permanent housing," he said. 

The council speaker joined NY1 political anchor Errol Louis on "Inside City Hall" Thursday night to discuss the veto.

According to the council speaker, the council "really did negotiate" with the Adams administration until there was "no more option to negotiate" anymore.

"We had to move forward, and we had to do what we had to do. We were really happy though that the mayor did, you know, pull out that 90-day rule. That was very important," she said. "And it took the administration a year to do that."

"So if it wasn't for this package of legislation, we don't think that would have been done," she continued.

According to the council speaker, the cost to keep individuals in shelters is "exorbitant."

"Especially when we look at the number of people that are in shelter right now, people that are actually being sheltered in hotels, it's unacceptable. It's crazy. We can do something about that, and this package of legislation absolutely does that," she said, adding that the package also covers those who are trying to avoid eviction.

The council speaker mentioned that some stays in the city would last up to two years, which she called "unacceptable."

"That tends to create more of a cycle of homelessness and people being kept in shelter in perpetuity," she said. "That's what we want to stop."

The Legal Aid Society on Thursday praised the council’s decision to override the mayor's veto.

In a statement, Robert Desir, staff attorney in the Civil Law Reform Unit at The Legal Aid Society called the vote a "necessary step to enact a package of needed reforms that will ultimately prevent evictions and combat homelessness."

“But let us be clear, should the Adams administration refuse to implement these measures or bring a challenge in court, we are prepared to intervene with litigation on behalf of our clients," Desir said. "Given the magnitude of the local housing crisis, we have an obligation to ensure that the New Yorkers we represent have every available option to secure a long-term, safe and affordable place to call home.”

Former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the current president and CEO of Win, the largest provider of family shelter and supportive housing in the city, released her own statement saying the legislation would "save the city hundreds of millions of dollars each year while preventing tens of thousands of New Yorkers from becoming homeless during the worst housing crisis our city has ever seen" and calling the vote "the definition of a win-win." 

At the center of the dispute was the council's desire to expand eligibility for vouchers, particularly the city’s Family Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement (FHEPS) vouchers.

The council aimed to increase the number of New Yorkers eligible for the vouchers, while the mayor has been pushing for more moderate changes to the program.

Currently, New Yorkers qualify for a CityFHEPS voucher if their gross income is below 200% of the federal poverty level. Those eligible for cash assistance must already be receiving it before applying for a voucher, and they must not qualify for any other rental assistance program.

The mayor suspended a rule in June that mandated individuals spend 90 days in the shelter system before becoming eligible for vouchers.

However, the challenge now is that many people who already have vouchers are unable to secure housing.

Molly Wasow Park, acting commissioner of the city's Department of Social Services, highlighted the scale of the issue in an interview with NY1 on Wednesday, saying, “There are about 20,000 households who are currently searching either with a CityFHEPS voucher, or one of the other housing vouchers that the city is managing right now.”

In May, the City Council determined that the eligibility criteria for the vouchers should extend beyond shelter residents to also include those facing eviction. The council speaker defended this, saying it is more cost-effective to help people maintain housing than support them in the shelter system.

The mayor vetoed the council's legislation, citing concerns about creating competition for vouchers in city shelters. He also stated he was worried about the estimated cost of implementing the changes, which is estimated to range from $15 billion to $17 billion.

The council passed the housing legislation with a substantial majority. The mayor's only recourse following Thursday's vote will be to contest the policy in court.