From Pittsburgh to New York City: How a data-driven reformer plans to tackle homelessness and poverty
Mamdani Names a Social Services Reformer to Lead City’s Largest Agency
Mayor Zohran Mamdani has appointed Erin Dalton as Commissioner of the New York City Department of Social Services, tapping a nationally recognized figure in data-driven government service delivery to lead the agency responsible for housing support, emergency assistance, and homelessness services in the largest city in the United States. Dalton, who served as director of the Allegheny County Department of Human Services in Pennsylvania, comes to New York with a track record that has drawn attention — and some controversy — in policy circles across the country. She replaces Molly Wasow-Park, who announced she would leave the role in mid-March.
What Dalton Accomplished in Allegheny County
During Dalton’s tenure overseeing Allegheny County’s integrated human services system, the results were striking across multiple dimensions. The county achieved a 98% reduction in outdoor homelessness. It redesigned its mobile crisis response system, deploying behavioral health professionals to answer 911 calls in lieu of law enforcement — a model that aligns directly with Mamdani’s vision for a Department of Community Safety in New York. Violent crime in the county dropped by 20% during that period, while incarceration rates fell by 10%. These are not small numbers. In a policy environment where genuine improvements in both safety and human welfare outcomes are rare, Allegheny County’s record under Dalton became something of a case study.
The Data Controversy That Follows Her
Dalton’s legacy is not without criticism. She was a key architect of the Allegheny Family Screening Tool, a predictive risk assessment algorithm used to flag families for child welfare investigation. Civil liberties advocates and racial equity researchers have raised serious concerns about the tool’s design, arguing that it encodes historical patterns of surveillance into automated systems in ways that disproportionately flag Black families and families experiencing poverty. The American Civil Liberties Union and other organizations have documented how algorithmic risk assessment tools in human services can replicate and amplify historical inequities even when designed with good intentions. Dalton has defended the tool as a decision-support instrument that helps caseworkers allocate limited resources, not a replacement for human judgment. The debate is ongoing and relevant — because New York City, under Mamdani, is also exploring data-driven approaches to service delivery, and the questions raised about Allegheny County’s algorithm will follow Dalton to her new role.
What She Inherits in New York
The NYC Department of Social Services oversees the Human Resources Administration (HRA) and the Department of Homeless Services (DHS), collectively representing one of the most complex human services operations in the world. The city spends billions annually on shelter, rental assistance, food support, and social services for millions of New Yorkers. Recent controversies include questions about the rollback of CityFHEPS vouchers for formerly homeless New Yorkers — a program that provides rental assistance subsidies — and the ongoing challenge of chronic street homelessness in a city with a severe affordability crisis. Mamdani has made housing and homelessness central to his platform. His appointment of Dalton signals an intent to bring data-driven, reform-minded leadership to an agency that has historically struggled with siloed services and reactive crisis management.
A Mandate Aligned With the Mayor’s Vision
The fit between Dalton’s background and Mamdani’s agenda is legible. Dalton’s mobile crisis work in Allegheny County — sending behavioral health professionals rather than armed officers to mental health calls — is essentially a prototype for what Mamdani’s Department of Community Safety aims to build in New York. Her work on integrated services aligns with Mamdani’s stated goal of a “whole government” approach to human need. The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness has identified integrated service delivery — where housing, mental health, substance use, and income support are coordinated rather than siloed — as among the most effective strategies for reducing chronic homelessness. Whether Dalton can replicate, at New York City scale, what she accomplished in Allegheny County is the key question. The organizational challenges are orders of magnitude larger. The political environment is more complex. The stakes, for the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers who depend on DSS services, could not be higher.
