Mamdani Sinks $260 Million Into Office of Community Safety, Where Social Workers Replace Cops, as Big Apple Faces Historic Budget Crisis
The mayor's proposed $127 billion budget has led multiple credit rating agencies to issue warnings about the city's long-term finances
Jon Levine
March 31, 2026
New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani (D.) is sinking a quarter of a billion dollars into his new Office of Community Safety—which is intended to deploy social workers to respond to hate crimes, mental health crises, and other events typically handled by police—as the city faces a historic budget crisis.
Mamdani established the office in a March 19 executive order and revealed in a signing ceremony on the same day that it would begin with a $260 million budget. While Mamdani moved those funds from existing city programs to his new office, he pledged to "add more funding down the line," according to the New York Times. During his mayoral campaign, Mamdani pledged to fund the office to the tune of $1.1 billion.
"It's remarkable that Mayor Mamdani is supposedly grappling with a historic budget gap of $5.4 billion through fiscal 2027—despite the absence of a recession or financial crisis—yet has managed to include $260 million for a new office with only two staffers," John Ketcham, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, told the Washington Free Beacon.
https://freebeacon.com/democrats/mamdani-sinks-260-million-into-office-of-community-safety-where-social-workers-replace-cops-as-big-apple-faces-historic-budget-crisis/
