7K NYC families could lose child care subsidies each month under state budget plan

Tens of thousands of New York City families would lose their child care vouchers under the state’s proposed budget — a move that advocates say would leave parents unable to work and force day care centers to close their doors.

Lawmakers in Albany, city officials and child care advocates are furiously working to avoid the fiscal cliff that could kick 4,000 to 7,000 families out of the program every month when they are not able to renew their vouchers. The final budget is due Tuesday, April 1.

“We are at a really pivotal moment,” said Dede Hill, policy director at Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy. “It is essential that New York state leaders act to ensure they do not pull the rug out from under families who have built their family budget around child care assistance and programs who have built their business budgets around the Child Care Assistance Program.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposed executive budget leaves funding flat at $1.8 billion – with more than half that funding going to families in the five boroughs. But advocates say the child care assistance program needs another $900 million to ensure parents who have vouchers can keep them, and to cover thousands more children expected to need the subsidy this year. Child care costs have been at the center of affordability conversations across the state as reports show most families cannot afford the cost of care and are fleeing the city and state because of it.

Mansie Meikle, who relies on a voucher for after-school care, said the vouchers have been a lifeline.

“I can actually work, not wondering how I’m going to get the kids,” Meikle said. “This is stressing me out just the idea of losing access to that. It’s right back at square one.”

Advocates say the voucher program is in many ways a victim of its own success. The program rapidly grew after the state expanded eligibility to those earning 85% the area median income or less (about $108,000 for a family of four). More than 80,000 families receive vouchers every month, averaging about $300 a week.

Last year the state also increased how much it reimburses child care providers who serve families with vouchers by about 20%, according to the city. That increased from $154 in 2019 to $301 a week in 2024, according to a report by the Center for New York City Affairs at the New School.

But this summer the city will reinstitute state-mandated work requirements for people receiving cash assistance, which were waived during the pandemic. Officials from the Administration for Children’s Services, which operates the voucher program, predict that will mean more families will go to work to maintain their cash assistance. And to do that, they will also need child care vouchers, resulting in an additional 40,000 children in the program.

This increase in the number of very-low-income families receiving cash assistance who need child care vouchers will, in turn, push families who are not on cash assistance out of the child care voucher program if funding remains the same. Families could get kicked off as soon as next month when they go to recertify their vouchers.

“ If we want to keep everybody on, we have to add more funding,” said Assemblymember Emily Gallagher, who represents Greenpoint and Williamsburg.  The Assembly has proposed adding another $213 million for child care vouchers.

Gallagher said the consequences of cutting aid for parents would ripple through the economy and accelerate the exodus of families out of New York.

“Child care really is an everyday necessity,” she said. “We are losing a lot of our people, a lot of New Yorkers are moving away because of the cost of living. And it's not wealthy New Yorkers who are moving away. It is low- and middle-income people who are the backbone of our workforce.”

Tiffany Diaz, a longtime provider of child care services who operates four locations, said losing vouchers would devastate providers, too. 

“In my sites, 85% of our income comes from vouchers,” she said. If that were to be taken away, she said, “I’m not sure how we would be able to survive.”

Diaz said families who receive the voucher pay anywhere from $4 to $9 a week and no more than $20 a week. The New School report stated more than half the vouchers are used at smaller family-based day cares.

City councilmembers and state lawmakers sent Hochul and legislative leaders a letter last week urging them to make up the budget gap and stop families from losing access to care. They said they were only “recently made aware of this looming crisis.”

But City Hall spokesperson Allison Maser said child care funding remained a priority for the Adams administration since the beginning of budget negotiations.

“We will continue to use these final days of state budget negotiations to urge the governor and Legislature to ensure that the adopted state budget includes the funding New York City needs to preserve the tremendous gains we’ve made,” Maser said in a statement.

Avery Cohen, a spokesperson for Hochul, said the governor has more than doubled the child care subsidy in the last three years.

“Since taking office, Gov. Hochul has increased funding for child care subsidies in New York City by 124% while city spending has remained relatively flat,” Cohen said, adding that most families on the vouchers pay less than $15 a week in child care.

The state gives the city $1.1 billion to cover child care vouchers, while the city contributes $53 million as part of its local share.

“We will continue to support these vital programs and ensure as many families remain enrolled as possible," Cohen said.

This story has been updated to include additional information about the state and city budgets.