Social safety net investments address homelessness
Housing Support Programs Receive Investment
Mayor Mamdani’s preliminary budget includes significant funding to address the underlying causes of homelessness and housing instability, including robust continued investment in rental assistance programs and shelter operations. These investments represent the administration’s commitment to maintaining the social safety net during a period of overall fiscal constraint.
The preliminary budget identified rental assistance as one of the services that had been systematically underfunded under the prior administration. Correcting this underfunding represents a key priority in Mamdani’s initial fiscal approach. The budget provides resources to ensure that eligible individuals and families can access rental assistance to prevent homelessness and housing instability.
Shelter Operations and Support Services
The budget includes $5 million in fiscal year 2026 for warming centers and shelter connections for homeless New Yorkers. It also allocates $11.9 million in fiscal year 2027 for new Street Health Outreach and Wellness mobile units that will provide services to people living unsheltered on city streets.
The new Bridge to Home site funded in the budget represents targeted investment in housing and supportive services for people living with severe mental illness. These investments recognize that homelessness often involves intersection of mental health challenges, substance use disorders, and other health conditions requiring comprehensive service approaches.
Addressing Root Causes
Beyond emergency shelter and services for homeless individuals, the budget includes broad rental assistance and housing preservation funding designed to address root causes of housing instability. The budget allocates $662 million in fiscal year 2027 for modernization and preservation of more than 3,200 affordable housing units.
This housing preservation work prevents loss of existing affordable units and maintains the affordable housing supply. Without active preservation efforts, the city loses affordable units to deterioration and conversion to market-rate housing. The investment reflects recognition that preventing loss of affordable housing is more cost-effective than replacing units.
Mental Health and Wellness Services
The city budget provides $48.2 million starting in fiscal year 2027 to fully fund renovation and expansion of Bellevue Hospital’s Adult Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program. This investment addresses capacity constraints in mental health emergency services and reflects the connection between mental health challenges and housing instability.
Additionally, the budget funds Street Health Outreach and Wellness mobile units and a new Bridge to Home site specifically addressing homelessness among people living with severe mental illness. These targeted investments attempt to address homelessness at the intersection of mental health and housing challenges.
Broader Affordable Housing Strategy
These budget investments fit within the mayor’s broader commitment to affordable housing and accessible mental health services. The preliminary budget’s focus on rental assistance, shelter, and housing preservation represents a comprehensive approach to addressing housing instability and homelessness rather than relying solely on emergency services.
The investments also represent a commitment to the social safety net and recognition that market-rate housing alone cannot serve the city’s lowest-income residents. Government intervention and public investment are necessary to ensure that all New Yorkers have access to safe, stable housing.
Implementation and Effectiveness
The effectiveness of these investments will depend on successful implementation and management of the programs and services they fund. Ongoing monitoring and evaluation will be necessary to ensure that funds are being deployed effectively and services are reaching intended recipients.
For information on housing and homelessness policy, see Department of Homeless Services, Department of Housing, and Citizens Budget Commission reports on housing finance and homelessness policy.
