Categories: New York City
07.02.2020
On July 1st, the City Council approved an $88.1 billion budget for FY 2021. This represents a $7.2 billion decrease from the Preliminary Budget proposed by the Mayor in January and a $4.7 billion decrease from the Adopted FY 2020 budget.
The past few months have been an unprecedented challenge for New York City. While COVID-19 has taken the lives of too many, the economic impact is still unfolding. Revenue projections are down. The City drew on $4 billion in reserves and has made cuts in order to produce a balanced budget.
On the capital budget side, HPD’s affordable housing budget is funded at $741 million. This constitutes a 40% cut, which is a tremendous blow to the pipeline. Combined with cuts to the FY 2020 budget put into effect following the Executive Budget in April, the City could potentially lose 21,000 affordable housing units and 3,000 supportive units.
Supportive housing fared better on the expense side. Available documents show no significant cuts to service and operating programs. NYC 15/15 was adjusted to account for the slower pipeline, but no cuts will be made to awards or contract amounts.
Finally, the Network is deeply disappointed in the City’s inability to achieve $1 billion in meaningful cuts to the NYPD. We stand with advocates led by Communities United for Police Reform who continue to call for #NYCBudgetJustice, a significant divestment in harmful policing and reinvestment in communities, specifically Black and Brown communities. We are indebted to the Black Lives Matter movement and BIPOC activists and organizations that have led the way on this issue for years. While the FY 2021 budget agreement dissolves the formal involvement of the NYPD in homeless outreach, there is much more work to be done.
Details about the adopted budget are still being released and we will provide updates as needed. The Network will continue to advocate to ensure that supportive housing receives fair funding in this challenging budget environment. We are monitoring the State budget to anticipate any cuts that may trickle down to City-contracted supportive housing programs and advocating for increased aid to states and localities from the next Federal COVID stimulus package to help mitigate the damage.