On February 7th, the Mayor released his preliminary budget totaling $92.2 billion dollars, including $3 billion in new spending. He also set a savings goal of $750 million, which will be achieved in part by deepening the City’s partial hiring freeze and implementing his Administration’s first Program to Eliminate the Gap (PEG).
The Mayor started his budget presentation discussing the need for fiscal austerity relaying his fears of another costly federal government shutdown, a predicted economic downturn and loss of nearly a billion in annual income tax revenue due to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. In the budget, the Housing Plan and NYCHA Next Gen continue to be funded as scheduled, but there are no additional new resources for NYCHA or other affordable housing programs. While the city is looking to contain spending, failing to adequately preserve public housing will be a far greater cost to the City. NYHC asks the Mayor to provide NYCHA with at least $500 million in new funding this year as part of a new 10-year long-term City and State Capital Investment plan. Today, NYHC launched the Coalition for Capital Investments to #SaveNYCHA, read more about our plan and join the Coalition today.