Exclusive | Nearly 865K New Yorkers collected welfare over past year most in nearly 30 years: Communist playbook 101

New York City dished out welfare checks to nearly 865,000 people over the past year — a historic handout that has sent public assistance spending skyrocketing to a record-breaking $2.7 billion, The Post can reveal.The city’s Department of Social Services served a staggering 864,999 welfare recipients for the 12-month period ending May 30, a whopping 55.7% increase since 2022 and totals the Big Apple hasn’t seen in roughly 30 years, an examination of agency records found.The city’s taxpayer-funded budget for cash-assistance payments soared even higher — up 72.6%, from $1.57 billion in fiscal 2022 to its current $2.71 billion for the fiscal year that began July 1.Mayor Zohran Mamdani inherited the welfare crisis from his predecessor Eric Adams — but there’s been little change since the socialist took office in January.And critics fear it’s only a matter of time before he pushes more millionaires and billionaires out of the Big Apple — and with them jobs – sending welfare rolls even further through the roof.“This is the Communist Playbook 101: make everyone reliant on the government, so the masses have no choice but to support the people signing their checks,” predicted Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Queens).“This is only going to get worse as the Democratic Socialists of America ramp up their tax-the-rich rhetoric and drive even more jobs out of the city.With every job they force out, the far left gets one more person dependent on them.

It’s all part of the plan.”Adams inherited an annual public-assistance caseload totaling 555,311 in 2021, the final year of the administration of former Mayor and avowed Marxist Bill de Blasio, and watched it soar to 864,608 by the time he left office at the end of 2025, records show.When The Post asked the DSS in February 2024 to explain why welfare rolls were rising under Adams, agency officials blamed the economic impact of the pandemic.They insisted New Yorkers were reeling from soaring rents, food co...