Reports

As New York’s older population continues to increase and the federal funding that supports them becomes less predictable, understanding demand for services, how funding has addressed unmet needs and the challenges for fully supporting New Yorkers as they age is vital. This report focuses on programs administered by New York State Office for the Aging (NYSOFA), particularly in-home services. State funding for NYSOFA programs increased over 88%, or $114 million, in the New York State budget for State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2025–26 when compared to SFY 2018–19, yet waitlists for programs persist and data reporting makes it difficult to know how many are still left behind and where. The recent shift and reduction in federal support that will likely affect benefits available to many older New Yorkers make this an opportune time to review the major NYSOFA programs and funding addressed in this report.

Homelessness in New York State has grown sharply, more than doubling between January 2022 and January 2024. A key reason for the increase has been the mass arrival of asylum seekers to New York in this period. While the homelessness increase was driven mostly by New York City, the rest of the State’s regions also experienced increases during this time period.

The Office of the State Comptroller issued five reports examining “New Yorkers in Need.” These publications provide a fact base for understanding the local and demographic variations in need; explain the implications of lived poverty, food insecurity and housing instability; and make recommendations for bolstering the federal safety net and improving State efforts.

Nearly one in five New York children live in poverty, and rates are significantly higher in some of New York's largest cities. With the 2021 Child Poverty Reduction Act, New York has set a goal to reduce child poverty by 50% by 2031 and has taken action in recent State budgets. The State and federal government have the solutions to lift more children out of poverty, and policymakers should act with urgency to use them.

Food insecurity is increasing in New York, with one-in-nine households (11.3% or 875,000 families) unable to get enough food at some point during 2020 through 2022 because they lacked money or other resources. Nationally, food insecurity increased for the first time in over a decade to 11.2% during 2020 through 2022. With the end of the pandemic, many of the enhancements to federal safety net programs also ended. Additional federal and state efforts are needed to address food insecurity.

Between 2013 and 2022, there was a 23% increase in the number of individuals served by the State’s public mental health system. The rising need for mental health services coincided with a loss of 990 beds, a 10.5% drop in capacity, in inpatient psychiatric facilities statewide between April 2014 and December 2023. Ensuring the availability of inpatient mental health services is a critical component of the State’s effort to address the ongoing mental health challenges facing the State and improve the lives of vulnerable New Yorkers.

For almost 3 million New Yorkers, housing costs constitute more than 30 percent of household income, with 1 in 5 households experiencing a severe cost burden of more than 50 percent of their income going to pay for housing. This report is the third and final report in the “New Yorkers in Need” series. It examines three categories of housing insecurity: high housing costs; physical inadequacy, including overcrowding and substandard conditions; and housing stress, including evictions and foreclosures, which may result in homelessness.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to soaring unemployment rates for people with disabilities, and these rates have not declined as quickly in New York as they have nationally. This report highlights the continued need for solutions that facilitate increased employment for people with disabilities in New York.

Approximately one in ten, or about 800,000, New York households experienced food insecurity from 2019 to 2021, and an increasing number say they face food insufficiency since summer 2021. This report is the second in the “New Yorkers in Need” series. It details recent trends in food insecurity, explains policy interventions by the federal and State governments, and demonstrates a clear need for a continuing commitment to reduce the incidence of food insecurity.

New York had the 13^th highest poverty rate among states in 2021, and has surpassed the national average since 2014. These rates have been persistently higher among some groups, including children; New Yorkers of color, and those with less than a high school education. The COVID-19 pandemic prompted an expansion of the safety net by the federal government that effectively reduced poverty, and some parts of that should be continued. State government should also ensure resources are equitably targeted and a cross-agency focus is maintained to alleviate poverty in a sustained manner.

The President and leading members of Congress are pushing to enact major changes in our federal tax code. Before any such measures become law, we need to make sure that taxpayers and policy makers understand the implications for New Yorkers.

Access to a habitable and secure place to live is a basic human need, essential to good health and well‐being. Keeping New Yorkers housed is costly, however. Government spends billions of dollars annually to assist developers, owners, and renters.