NYC parents shut out from childcare vouchers as Adams and Hochul spar over who will pay for the $1B program
New York City families are getting shut out from applying for child care vouchers as Mayor Eric Adams and Gov.Kathy Hochul spar over who will pony up the nearly $1 billion to fund the program.First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro said Monday that the city only has enough money to cover existing enrollees, and that new applicants will start being put on a waitlist.
“Sadly, the state’s proposed budget provides insufficient funding for its own program,” Mastro told reporters at City Hall.“So, we are unable to enroll any new eligible applicants seeking such vouchers beginning today, May 5th.While we will continue to work with and implore our state partners to restore state funding and continue to fully fund the state program.”Roughly 70,000 low-income Big Apple families currently rely on the vouchers, which subsidize child care costs and are administered by the city’s Administration for Children’s Services.
The application freeze is expected to leave between 4,000 to 7,000 families in limbo, the Adams administration said.Hochul and Albany lawmakers offered up $350 million to fund the state program as part of their 2026 budget deal announced by the governor last week — as long as the city matched that deposit.That, though, would still leave the program more than $100 million short of being fully funded.Mastro said the city needs north of $800 million total to fully cover the demand, as federal COVID-19 stimulus funds used to fill the gaps are drying up.He called on the state to pony up.“A state program funded by the state should be funded by the state,” he said.“There is still time.The state budget is not final,” Mastro added.
“We remain hopeful, working with our state partners, that we will be able to resolve this issue because child care vouchers matter to families in need.”Hochul shut down the idea of any more money coming in for the city Friday as she took a victory lap on yet-to-be-inked budget.“I put another $400 million in the budget tha...