New York City’s social services budget has exploded since the pandemic by more than half — while the rest of the state has had to repeatedly cut, the state’s budget chief said Wednesday
Speaking at a Citizen’s Budget Commission breakfast Wednesday morning, the state’s budget director, Blake Washington, said that the city needs to “refine” its spending with the Mamdani administration claiming they need $5.4 billion from the state to balance its budget.
“We all have big hearts and want to provide the biggest public safety net,” Washington said.
But Washington continued that social services in NYC have ballooned by 50% since pandemic while rest of state has decreased by about a quarter.
“Your ability to help needs to have some guardrails,” he added.
The budget line for housing vouchers has drastically increased under the City Council’s expansion from a few hundred million to more than $1.8 billion, budget docs show.
The CBC has said that the cityFHEPs program could come in even higher at $3.2 billion annually.
