NYC FY26 Budget Includes Funds for Public Safety Measures, Housing

New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday announced a Fiscal Year 2026 Preliminary Budget at $114.5 billion, which includes money for public safety programs, education, housing and making the city more affordable.  

The preliminary budget is about $2 billion more than the adopted FY2025 budget and did not call for any budget cuts at city agencies as in previous years. 

The mayor said the budget is bolstered by growth in tax revenue, helped by a healthy local and national economy. In the city, gains were driven by a strong performance on Wall Street in 2024, which is expected to continue for the next two years, according to a press release. 

"We are making major investments in affordable housing, addressing the severe mental health crises, keeping New Yorkers safe, providing our children with a world-class education and our families with affordable child care, developing major infrastructure projects and parks, investing in cultural institutions and so much more," Adams said. "Our administration is working hard every day to deliver for working-class New Yorkers and make New York City the best place to raise a family.”

That said, the budget did not include funds for 3-K seats in public schools, which puzzled some elected officials.

"Vital education programs that help our students and were funded in last year’s budget are not supported in the mayor’s new proposal," read a statement from City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and Council Finance Chair Justin Brannan. "It is imperative that the city’s resources are meaningfully invested in solutions to the challenges facing working-class New Yorkers."

The budget also includes about $900 million for overtime pay for the New York City Police Department, according to Jacques Jiha, the director of the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget.

"Whatever it costs to keep us safe, we are going to spend," Adams said at a press conference. "I want to be very clear on that. And I'm not apologizing for that. New Yorkers must be safe."

FY26 Investment Highlights

Keeping New Yorkers Safe

• Giving homeless New Yorkers the help they need ($137 million in FY26):
  • Adding 900 Save Haven beds and deepening 24/7/365 citywide street and subway outreach to help eliminate obstacles to shelter and encourage care.
  • Launching the “Bridge to Home” pilot that provides homeless New Yorkers with severe mental illness with psychiatric and substance abuse treatment and temporary housing.
  • Adding 100 additional Runaway Homeless Youth shelter beds, bringing the total number of beds to 913.
  • Launching a pilot program to connect soon-to-be parents applying for shelter with vouchers to help them find permanent housing and prevent homelessness before their child is born, moving new families into stable homes more quickly and preventing lifelong cycles of poverty and housing instability before they begin.
• Funding to complete infrastructure upgrades at the Woodhull Outposted Therapeutic Housing Unit — a secure, clinical unit within a hospital that serves patients in custody who have serious health conditions and follows the jail-based therapeutic housing model that is scheduled to open in 2027 ($32 million).
• Increasing swim safety programming by adding more lifeguards and staff to offer free swim lessons to an additional 4,800 students, taking the total of New York City youth getting free lessons to nearly 18,000 ($5.5 million).
• Enhancing New York City Department of Correction recruiting efforts with targeted advertising campaigns, in-person events, and more to help fill vacant positions ($5 million).
• Improving intersection safety by installing granite blocks or bike racks at hundreds of targeted locations, helping increase visibility and improve safety for motorists, pedestrians, and cyclists ($3.9 million).
• Bolstering security and safety for staff and people in custody at DOC facilities with facility improvements ($2.5 million).
• Expanding bridge and tunnel repair capacity at the New York City Department of Transportation ($1.2 million).

Making New York City More Affordable

• Launching the “Axe the Tax for the Working Class” proposal to bring significant tax relief to working-class families by eliminating and cutting New York City personal income taxes and putting $63 million back in their pockets ($63 million).
• Funding for Anti-Harassment Tenant Protection program legal services to proactively engage tenants experiencing landlord harassment ($7.6 million).
• Funding for the Mayor's Office Public Engagement Unit Home Support Unit, which works with landlords, real estate agents and property managers to refer vacant apartments to the rental subsidy program ($2.2 million).
• Expanding capacity for the Fatherhood Initiative that helps fathers strengthen relationships with their children by promoting engagement, mentorship and financial support ($2 million).
• Supporting new technology and tools to improve efficiency of the PEU Benefits Screening initiative and restoring funding for PEU’s summer CUNY internship “Benefits Corps” program ($1.3 million).
• Supporting the city's goal of achieving 30,000 pre-apprenticeships for low-income participants by 2030 to prepare them for building trades apprenticeships as unionized ironworkers, plumbers, painters, and electricians ($1 million).

Investing in Education for New York City Children

• Continuing support for the Summer Rising academic and enrichment programming, as well as Learning to Work, which helps re-engage students who have fallen behind earn a high school diploma and prepare for college and careers ($31 million).
• Expanding the Pathways program to provide career readiness opportunities for students at New York City Public Schools ($17.5 million).
• Supporting programs that help young New Yorkers learn academic, work and independent living skills, including Fair Future expansion, College Choice expansion, Career Choice/Workforce Ready, Girls JustUs expansion, Assertive Community Engagement & Success citywide expansion ($15 million).
• Opening an additional 11 schoolyards to be used as public playgrounds after school, on weekends, and during the summer as part of the Schoolyards to Playgrounds initiative ($770,000).

Improving Quality of Life

• Expanding New York City Department of Parks and Recreation second shift cleaning to 100 more hot spots at 64 parks ($12.4 million).
• Funding for 54 programming and support staff, such as recreation specialists and lifeguards, at the new Shirley Chisholm Recreation Center in East Flatbush that is set to open in fall 2025 ($4.8 million).
• Funding to create five additional Cultural Institutions Group members that will receive operating support from the city to help meet basic needs ($3 million).
• Hiring 12 additional staff to visit and treat up to 4,000 tree beds per year to help reduce the rat population and address public service requests ($924,000).

Promoting Economic Development

• Funding for neighborhood development initiatives, including merchant organizing and Business Improvement District formation, that will support services like graffiti removal, streetscape beautification and public arts projects throughout the city ($5.3 million).
• Creating a Financial Education Resource Hub that offers financial education workshops and training on key financial topics in schools ($4.35 million).
• Funding administrative support for monthly JobsNYC hiring halls, including identifying venues, liaising with the local community to identify interested employers, and advertising locally within communities experiencing high unemployment ($2 million).

Investing in a 10-Year Capital Plan

The city will invest $170 billion over the next decade to improve infrastructure, including roads, bridges, schools, water and sewer facilities, libraries and transportation systems in neighborhoods across the five boroughs. This is the largest 10-Year Capital Plan in city history. Through many of these investments, the city is also renewing its commitment to working-class New Yorkers by using project labor agreements and community hiring goals on capital construction projects. This includes:

• $36.5 billion for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection and the New York City Department of Sanitation
• $32.1 billion for transportation
• $24.5 billion for affordable housing
• $23.6 billion for schools
• $15.9 billion for DOC, courts, and the New York City Police Department
• $37.4 billion for other city services, including:
  • $10 billion for NYC Parks
  • $2.8 billion for cultural institutions and libraries

Key investments include:

• $3.18 billion for repairs to the Newtown Creek combined Sewer Overflow Storage Tunnel
• $1 billion for housing in the New York City Department of Housing and Preservation Development ($825 million) and the New York City Housing Authority ($175 million)
• $612 million for repairs on the Queensboro Bridge lower roadway
• $279 million for the replacement of the Passerelle Bridge
• $168 million for Governors Island, including support for the New York Climate Exchange
• $60 million in the Brooklyn Navy Yard for building upgrades and open space improvements