Mayor Eric Adams released his FY 2025 executive budget on Wednesday, proposing a $111.6 billion city budget. As promised recently, this budget does not include another round of cuts (called Program to Eliminate the Gap, or PEGs).
Expense Budget
In the fall, Mayor Adams had planned to make three rounds of 5% cuts to city agencies – in November, January (preliminary budget) and April (executive budget). But after the first two rounds of cuts, Mayor Adams said he would not make a third round. According to our review, the first two rounds of cuts to housing agencies appeared to have little impact on housing services.
While the executive budget does not include cuts, the budget does show savings from lower costs for services for asylum seekers. The Human Resources Administration is showing savings of $4 million in the current year (FY2024), the Department of Homeless Services is showing savings of $267 million this year and $56 million next year (FY2025) and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development is showing savings of $8 million this year and $7.5 million next year.
The executive budget also shows increases for the Department of Homeless Services, including $312 million in higher shelter costs this year. It also shows an increase at HRA to finally appropriately budget for the CityFHEPS rental assistance program. In past budgets, the city significantly underbudgeted for CityFHEPS, adding money in the middle of the fiscal year to account for actual spending. In this budget the city is adding $614.9 million next year and $540 million in future years for CityFHEPS. According to the NYC Independent Budget Office, the city spent $499 million on CityFHEPS in FY 2023.
Staffing
NYHC continues to track staffing levels at HPD, DHS and HRA and we remain concerned about low staffing at HRA and DHS. Both agencies continue to have staffing levels that are far less than before the pandemic. DHS currently has a headcount of 1,809, which is nearly 450 fewer people on staff than in December 2019. Meanwhile HRA has a headcount of 10,982, more than 1,500 fewer people on staff than before the pandemic. HPD however continues to have more staff than before the pandemic – with a headcount of 2,443, slightly higher than the 2,405 before the pandemic.
Understaffing at HRA and DHS, critical agencies to helping New Yorkers get benefits, shelter, and stable housing, is a concern and we continue to call on these agencies to have sufficient staffing.
Capital Budget
The HPD and NYCHA capital budgets saw modest changes in the executive budget plan. HPD’s capital budget increased $322.8 million overall over the five years (2024-2028), adding $114 million in the current year due to higher federal funding and $287 million in FY 2026. HPD’s capital budget is $2.8 billion this year but decreases significantly in the following years – down to $2.2 billion in FY25 and FY26, and $1.7 billion in FY 27 and FY 28.
If you look at planned spending by type, you can see the impact of the decreased budget in the outyears. The budget for new construction drops significantly in FY 2025 to $378 million, down from $861 million, though it picks up again in the following years to between $600 – $700 million. Preservation funding also decreases in the outyears to $500 million, down from over $700 million. Spending on NYCHA preservation programs in the HPD budget – including RAD / PACT funding – decreases to zero in FY27 and FY28.
City capital spending on NYCHA repairs is largely unchanged from the preliminary budget with a net increase of $1 million over the five years in the plan, including: a decrease of $140.9 million in the current year and an increase of $148.6 million next year and a decrease of $6.8 million in FY 2027. However, annual city capital spending at NYCHA decreases dramatically in the outyears, decreasing from nearly $1 billion this year and next year to roughly $300 million in FY27 and $210 million in FY28.