New York City Council held a budget hearing on the 17th, reviewing the budget allocation for the Department of Human Resources (HRA) and the Department of Homeless Services (DHS), discussing the potential impact of federal budget cuts on the Department of Social Services (DSS).
Chair of the City Council’s Welfare Committee, Diana Ayala, emphasized the high dependence of DSS operations on federal funding, with 14.4% ($19.1 billion) of the total HRA budget for the 2025 fiscal year and 15.5% ($6.28 billion) of the DHS budget coming from federal aid. As the federal government cuts funding for social safety net programs, the financial situation of New York City will become more unstable.
Community organizations are facing a dual challenge of federal funding cuts and delayed payments from the city government contracts. Many non-profit organizations have reported that city contract funds do not match actual service costs, and payments are often delayed, making it difficult for some agencies to pay staff salaries, thus affecting service delivery.
To address this issue, the city government plans to initiate a “backlog repayment plan,” focusing on addressing unpaid amounts from 2023 to 2025, while conducting individual meetings with vendors to expedite the payment process. However, the issue of delayed payments is complex and may involve factors such as delayed invoice processing, budget modification requirements, and subcontractor approval processes.
Additionally, there is a backlog in food stamp and cash assistance applications, with rising rejection rates and ongoing challenges in service efficiency, such as difficulty in contacting by phone and long waiting times at service centers, such as approximately an hour wait for cash assistance.
At the hearing, DHS Commissioner Molly Wasow Park stated that the number of homeless individuals in New York City shelters continues to rise, with approximately 85,000 homeless individuals as of February 2025, of which nearly one-third are asylum seekers. Despite an increase in the number of individuals successfully transitioning to permanent housing in the 2025 fiscal year, shelters continue to expand, requiring the city government to expedite subsidies for housing placement, such as the CityFEPS program, to assist shelter residents in transitioning to stable housing. However, the program faces issues of insufficient funding, process bottlenecks, and the high cost of housing in New York City, which have led to slow progress in placement.
Park mentioned that DSS is also researching response strategies, including contingency plans: simulating various cutting scenarios, devising response plans, and minimizing the impact on vulnerable groups. Advocacy and educational campaigns are being promoted to increase awareness among elected officials and the public of social safety net programs, especially the food stamp program, which currently affects approximately 1.8 million New Yorkers, with one-third being children and one-third being seniors, and each dollar of food stamp expenditure can drive $1.54 of economic activity.
During the hearing, Council Member Alexa Avilés raised concerns regarding shelter placement, community impact, and fair share policies.
She pointed out that the city government lacks transparency in shelter placement, with many council members not being involved in decisions beforehand, only receiving notification a few hours before shelters are set to open. She emphasized that communities mistakenly believe that council members have decision-making authority, but in reality, they passively receive information and cannot influence final decisions. Additionally, she questioned the concentration of shelters in certain areas without a corresponding increase in community resources, leading to exacerbated burdens in those localities.
Commissioner Park responded by saying that shelter placement is driven by legal and moral obligations, and the city government must provide emergency housing, especially with the rapid increase in the homeless population. She acknowledged that during times of responding to immigration surges, the city had to quickly use hotels as temporary shelters, leading to excessively high densities of some community shelters. However, she stressed that the city is striving to replace temporary hotel accommodations with long-term contract shelters and avoid retrofitting existing residential buildings to maintain stability in the rental market.
Commissioner Park stated that any family could potentially need shelter in emergency situations. She likened it to the “emergency room of the city’s housing department.” She added, “We do not want anyone to rely on the emergency room for primary health care, but that does not mean we do not need an emergency room.”
Avilés suggested that the city government conduct more detailed evaluations of the community impact of shelters to prevent certain communities from bearing excessive burdens while others have nearly no shelter placements. She emphasized that while communities support shelter placement, the government should simultaneously provide corresponding resources to ensure that local education, public facilities, and social services can accommodate the needs of the increasing population.