NYC Now Spending More Taxpayer Cash Per Homeless Person Than Average Annual Household Income

[rangerrebew]

NYC Now Spending More Taxpayer Cash Per Homeless Person Than Average Annual Household Income
David Lindfield

 March 22, 2026 - 11:11 am
 

New York City has more than tripled its spending on unsheltered homelessness since 2019, pouring nearly $368 million into the issue even as the number of people living on the streets continued to rise, according to a new state comptroller’s report.

City data shows the homeless population increased from 3,588 in fiscal year 2019 to 4,504 in fiscal year 2025.

The figure marks a 26% rise from pre-pandemic levels.

Over the same period, spending surged 262%, climbing from $102 million to nearly $368 million, raising fresh concerns about effectiveness and accountability.

https://slaynews.com/news/nyc-spending-taxpayer-cash-homeless-person-average-annual-household-income/

[rangerrebew]

Would it surprise anyone if most of the spending is on paper only?  It wouldn't me.

[The_Reader_David]

Of course they're not actually providing anywhere near that much value to the homeless.  A lot (I wouldn't be suprised if it was most) of that spending is on salaries and benefits for bureaucrats in charge of assisting the homeless, social workers with the homeless as part of their remit, and office costs including salary and benefits for secretaries and receptionists for the same.

Most of these left-wing social programs are mostly make-work programs for leftist constituent groups like public sector professional managers and social workers.

[Kamaji]

Of course they're not actually providing anywhere near that much value to the homeless.  A lot (I wouldn't be suprised if it was most) of that spending is on salaries and benefits for bureaucrats in charge of assisting the homeless, social workers with the homeless as part of their remit, and office costs including salary and benefits for secretaries and receptionists for the same.

Most of these left-wing social programs are mostly make-work programs for leftist constituent groups like public sector professional managers and social workers.

Yup.   Providing actual help to actual homeless folks is a minor afterthought for these programs.

[Wingnut]

Homelessness was never a problem until the left identified it. Passed laws to humanly end it with handouts which subsidized the homeless, and increased the population of homelessness. 

[DB]

Reward something, get more of it.
Penalize something, get less of it.

It isn't complicated.

[libertybele]

According to AI:

Key Demographics & Statistics of homeless people in NYC (2024-2025):

    Total Numbers: Over 158,000 homeless individuals, with nearly 90,000 in Department of Homeless Services (DHS) shelters as of Jan 2024.

    Asylum Seekers: ~34,000+ individuals, or nearly 40% of the total shelter population, are asylum seekers.
   
Race/Ethnicity: The population is disproportionately Black and Hispanic/Latinx.
 
  Shelter Demographics:
        56% of family shelter heads of household are Black.
        32% are Hispanic/Latinx.
        7% are White.
        43% of families with children in shelters have a disability.
        65% of single adults in shelters have a disability.
   
 Shelter vs. Street: Nearly 97% of the identified homeless population is in shelters, with only a small, 3.6% estimated as unsheltered, giving NYC the lowest rate of unsheltered, visible homelessness among major US cities.