End of pandemic aid in NYC put nearly 500K more New Yorkers in poverty: report

The end of pandemic-era aid led to a dramatic spike in the number of New Yorkers living in poverty according to a new report from Columbia University and Robin Hood, an anti-poverty advocacy group.

More than half — or 56% — of New York City residents either live in poverty or can be classified as low-income, according to the report released on Wednesday.

The number of city residents considered to be living in poverty grew from 1.5 million to 2 million between 2021 and 2022, the report states. The city's poverty rate increased from 18% in 2021 to 23% in 2022 — almost double the national average, according to the findings. It's also the largest single-year increase in the citywide poverty rate since 2012.

The findings measure through 2022 and capture many of the effects of the end of federal COVID-19 aid. However, they don’t fully capture the effects of the 170,000 migrants who began arriving in New York since April 2022, or the influx's accompanying fiscal challenges. The city’s housing crisis has also worsened in the last year.

People of color bear most of the sharp uptick in the city’s poverty rate, according to the report. Latino New Yorkers are twice as likely as whites to live in poverty — 26% compared to 13%. Asian and Black New Yorkers experienced similar rates in poverty to Latinos at 24% and 23% respectively.

The report calculates that a single person making $27,000 or less is considered either low-income or in poverty.

Richard Buery — the former New York City deputy mayor who heads Robin Hood — said the findings are particularly grim “given the steady progress New York City has made to reduce poverty in years.”

“We know that fully refundable tax credits, housing vouchers and childcare subsidies can move millions out of poverty and hardship,” he said in a statement. “But we have lacked the will to keep these policies in force.”

Along with the expiration of pandemic relief, researchers in the study also cast blame on inflation and rising rent costs.

Mayor Eric Adams is currently engaged in a battle with the City Council over the housing crisis. Last week, the Legal Aid Society filed a lawsuit against Adams for failing to put new rules into effect that expand access to housing vouchers. The Council moved to join the suit this week after previously threatening legal action.

In response to the report, City Hall spokesperson Charles Lutvak told Gothamist the Adams administration would continue to focus on the needs of working-class New Yorkers and pointed to recent growth in local jobs.

“While the COVID-19 pandemic took a disproportionate toll on our most vulnerable neighbors, under the Adams administration, New York City is working better for working people, with a record number of private sector jobs and all of the nearly 1 million jobs lost during the pandemic recovered more than a year ahead of projections and two years ahead of projections for the rest of the state,” Lutvak said in an emailed statement.