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Justin Brannan's opening remarks for FY 2026 DSS budget hearing
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4 min
Council Member Justin Brannan, Chair of the Committee on Finance, delivers opening remarks for the FY 2026 executive budget hearing for the NYC Department of Social Services. He outlines the context of the hearing, including potential federal funding cuts, and provides an overview of the proposed budgets for HRA and DHS.
- Highlights concerns about federal funding cuts to programs like Medicaid and SNAP
- Discusses the proposed FY 2026 budgets for HRA ($11.74 billion) and DHS ($3.4 billion)
- Mentions key issues to be addressed, including rental assistance programs, emergency food sources, and shelter security wages
Justin L. Brannan
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Thank you, sergeant.
0:00:29
Alright.
0:00:30
Good morning.
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Welcome to day five of FY twenty six executive budget hearings.
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I'm council member Justin Brannen.
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I chair the committee on finance.
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And this morning, I'm pleased to be joined by my good friend and co chair Deputy Speaker Ayala.
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She chairs the Committee on General Welfare.
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We've been joined this morning by council members Salam, Carr, and Kaban on Zoom.
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Welcome Commissioner Park and your team.
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Thank you for joining us today to answer our questions.
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Just as a reminder, this is a government proceeding and decorum shall be observed at all times.
0:01:03
As such, members of the public must remain silent at all times.
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We will be taking public testimony on DHS and HRA's FY twenty six executive budget later today after DHS and HRA testify.
0:01:16
If you wish to speak on these budget items, please make sure you fill out a witness slip with the sergeant at arms in the back.
0:01:24
In February, the House of Representatives passed sweeping cuts to Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs, or SNAP, which entailed over $1,000,000,000,000.
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It's important to note that almost 1,900,000,000.0 or about 14.4% of HRA's existing total budget is federal funding in support of safety net programs such as SNAP, cash assistance, and Medicaid.
0:01:50
In March, my colleagues and I questioned the administration on how they plan to address the serious threat posed by the Trump administration regarding illegally seized and unprecedented federal funding cuts to DSS programming, the financial instability remains a risk to crucial programs for some of our most vulnerable New Yorkers including housing, food assistance and health care.
0:02:12
It remains imperative that the city's plan is ironclad to ensure vital and critical services are afforded to the New Yorkers who rely on them.
0:02:20
On May 1, the administration released their executive plan for FY twenty six to twenty nine with a proposed FY '26 budget of $115,100,000,000.
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HRA's proposed FY '26 budget of $11,740,000,000 represents 10.2% of the administration's proposed FY twenty six budget in the executive plan.
0:02:42
This is an increase of 271,100,000.0 or 2.4% from the 11,470,000,000.00 which was originally budgeted in the preliminary plan back in January.
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This increase results from several actions.
0:02:58
Mostly additional funding to support the department's rental assistance programs, increased costs of cash assistance, emergency food sources, baseline funding for pregnant people applying for shelter with rental assistance, and anti harassment funding for residents.
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All very, very crucial, critical, important programs.
0:03:17
As of March 2025, HRA had just over 1,300 vacancies relative to their FY '26 budgeted headcount.
0:03:27
DHS proposed FY twenty six budget of 3,400,000,000.0 represents 3% of the administration's budget in the FY '20 '6 executive plan.
0:03:36
It represents a decrease of 130,900,000.0 or 3.7% from the 3,580,000,000.00 budgeted in the preliminary plan back in January.
0:03:47
As of March 2025, DHS had 76 vacancies relative to their FY '25 budgeted headcount.
0:03:56
Today my co chair and our colleagues will be seeking answers to many questions.
0:04:01
My questioning will mostly dive into the onslaught of federal funding cuts, the increase in assistance demonstrated by everyday New Yorkers, the community food connection, and city vendor contracting.
0:04:16
While the administration baselined the prevailing wage for shelter security, there was no commitment to increasing the sought after non asylum seeker shelter.
0:04:25
And we did not see it increase on our human service provider contract rates to ensure that those doing the very important work are adequately paid.
0:04:34
I'm now gonna turn it over to my co chair for this hearing, Deputy Speaker Ayala for her opening statement.