In their FY 2027 Statements of District Needs, Brooklyn community boards overwhelmingly identified access to affordable housing as their number one issue. This includes addressing homelessness and displacement in nearly every Brooklyn community. Public realm and infrastructure improvements, including upgrades to sanitation collection and improved street cleanliness, safer streets and less traffic, and better access to high-quality parks and open spaces round out the top asks. These are closely followed by: improved public safety and quality of life; enhanced public health, including access to healthcare and quality food; and increased availability of services for older adults.
This document presents my response to the FY27 Preliminary Budget, focused on addressing each of these areas, as well as my own high-priority issues: education, workforce development, immigration, and community boards. It also frames each issue using the 2025 Comprehensive Plan for Brooklyn, a roadmap for long-term, equitable growth across the borough. The Plan guides all of my office’s work, including but not limited to resource allocations.
It is important to acknowledge the budget deficit that our city currently faces. I join Mayor Mamdani in calling on the State to increase personal income taxes on those earning more than $1 million a year and to increase the corporate tax rate to ensure that the corporations that call NYC home are doing their part to reinvest.
AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS
The 2025 Comprehensive Plan for Brooklyn envisions furthering fair housing and increasing housing options for individuals and families of various sizes, incomes, and preferences. It calls for building and preserving more affordable housing in all Brooklyn communities, and for planning future growth around transit.
Housing preservation:
- Anti-Harassment Tenant Protection (AHTP) Program: By starting 2026 with a series of Rental Ripoff hearings, this administration is delivering on its commitments to holding landlords accountable. To build on that commitment, the AHTP program should be fully funded and baselined. This program, administered by the Office of Civil Justice, funds legal services organizations to work with tenants on education, organizing, and proactive litigation covering harassment and poor living conditions.
- Foreclosure prevention: One of the most important ways to bolster NYC’s housing stability is to prevent displacement of New Yorkers who are living in homes they can afford. Yet scammers continue to prey on homeowners, especially older adults of color in Central and Eastern Brooklyn, threatening their housing security and opportunity for generational wealth. A number of existing and potential programs help combat this issue:
- Office of Deed Theft Prevention: I commend Mayor Mamdani for creating this office. However, I would like to see the allocation match the Mayor’s campaign promise of $10 million, rather than the currently allocated $4.5 million over five fiscal years, to meet existing needs. This should be paired with a $10 million Tangled Title Fund, which would pay nonprofit lawyers to help qualified homeowners cover administrative, legal, and other costs that may arise in resolving a homeownership issue.
- New Housing Bureau: Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez has proposed creating a new Housing Bureau in his office, which currently does not offer housing-related services. A $24.9 million allocation would create a new team to hold unscrupulous landlords accountable and combat housing-related crime through education and prosecution.
- Neighborhood Pillars: Fully fund this HPD program that provides low-interest loans and tax exemptions to qualified nonprofits and M/WBE developers to acquire and stabilize existing buildings that have high levels of physical or financial distress.
Housing growth:
- Department of Housing Preservation and Development staffing: HPD currently has an almost 19% vacancy rate for inspectors, despite an uptick in reported housing maintenance code complaints. Additionally, the City Council and administration must work together to ensure all HPD departments involved in housing production and preservation are adequately staffed to bring affordable units online either through new construction or preservation of buildings entering into or renewing regulatory agreements. This will prevent unnecessary delays and help meet our city’s dire need for more housing development.
- Department of City Planning staffing: Similarly, staffing issues at DCP can affect the pace of development. The average number of days for a zoning action to enter public review has increased 19% since FY25; meanwhile, the agency’s vacancy rate is slightly over 16%. DCP must also proactively plan now for the staffing needed to implement new programs created through last year’s ballot initiatives. Critically, per the City Charter updates, DCP must modernize the City Map by January 1, 2029, and will take over from Borough Presidents the administration of address assignments by January 1, 2027. This is a complicated process that involves technical review, consistent assignment to conform to historical address standards, and enforcement of the use and display of addresses for legibility and safety. If DCP lacks adequate and knowledgeable staff to do this work, development in the city will slow starting next year.
PUBLIC REALM AND INFRASTRUCTURE
The Plan outlines how the borough should plan key decisions pertaining to our shared public spaces to foster a healthier, safer, more resilient, and more equitable borough. This includes improved bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, street design that discourages dangerous driving, coordinated management of curb space, and equitable access to green space.
Sanitation/Street cleanliness:
- Commercial Waste Zones (CWZ): When fully implemented, CWZ promises to deliver improved labor practices, increased diversion rates, reduction in vehicle miles traveled (VMT), and upgrades to the fleets in the commercial waste industry. Yet delayed implementation has meant more unnecessary VMT, more unsafe working conditions for transfer station employees, and more dangerous trucks on our streets. DSNY has referenced budget and staffing issues as an impediment to program expansion but has not given specifics about these needs. The FY27 budget should fully fund the staffing necessary to fully rollout the program to the entire city this year, rather than waiting until 2027. It is important to note that CWZ is a revenue raiser for the department, projected to bring in $5.9 million in FY7.
- Street vendor enforcement: The FY27 budget proposes significant cuts to DSNY’s enforcement budget. DSNY should work with the administration to ensure it has adequate resources to assume all duties for enforcement of street vendor regulations, fully shifting this responsibility from the NYPD.
- Community compost: Community composting facilities play a critical role in a comprehensive organics diversion system. These facilities divert millions of pounds of food waste from landfills every year; provide free compost to the Parks Department, community organizations, street tree maintenance, school gardens, Botanical Gardens, and community gardens; create jobs; and play a critical role in educating youth and the public about the value and mechanics of composting. The Council restored this funding after unfortunate cuts, and the administration should baseline it in FY27 so that the organizations know they can rely on the City’s support long-term.
- Containerization: According to Council Finance’s analysis, the Preliminary Budget does not include dedicated funding for the specialized truck fleet required to support on-street containerization, the Brooklyn CB2 pilot rollout, or a broader citywide rollout of the Empire Bins. While we all agree containerization is the long-term solution, this could provide us an opportunity under new DSNY leadership to get the rollout right. DSNY should consider an alternative that utilizes a geographic approach allowing residential buildings of all sizes to use on-street containers where appropriate (shared between buildings as needed), especially in mixed-use commercial corridors, with the option for residences and businesses in these areas to use shared bins. These bins should also provide space for recycling and organics in addition to regular waste in order to increase diversion from landfills, which will ultimately save the City money on waste export costs.
Safe Streets and Transit Access:
- Implement the Streets Plan: Unfortunately, traffic fatalities are already up for 2026. However, the new administration is making progress toward safer streets for all road users, with more bike lane miles, bike parking spaces, bus lanes, and CitiBike memberships compared to this time last year, according to the MMR. Still, the goals and mandates of the NYC Streets Plan to expand safety infrastructure are ambitious, and the previous administration fell far short of meeting them. The DOT vacancy rate is almost 12%, indicating that more staffing is needed to implement the Plan.
- Fair Fares program: I support and encourage this administration to fund advocates’ five-point proposal for fixing the Fair Fares program to make transit access more equitable by: expanding Fair Fares eligibility to those making 300% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), making transit fully free for households under 150% FPL, expanding where Fair Fares can be used to cover both express buses and CityTicket, implementing automatic enrollment, and closing program loopholes for older adults and riders with disabilities.
Parks and Open Space:
- 1% for Parks: Parks advocacy organizations have been asking for the City to fund the Parks Department at 1% of the City’s budget for years. Currently at around 0.6%, it is clear that this allocation does not meet existing needs, particularly for maintenance. Equity is also an ongoing concern—according to recent Vital Parks statistics, about 30% of New Yorkers do not have easy access to a park with a good condition score, and this disparity is more pronounced in the outer boroughs. Will this finally be the year that NYC catches up with the world’s major cities and adequately funds its parks?
PUBLIC HEALTH AND PUBLIC SAFETY
The Plan recognizes that public health and public safety are inextricably linked. It provides recommendations to address the stark health and wellness disparities that exist in the borough, especially across racial and socioeconomic lines. To effectively improve public health in Brooklyn, it is necessary to examine conditions such as housing instability, food insecurity, the impact that incarceration has on families and individuals, and variable quality of perinatal health care which leads to disparities in maternal morbidity and mortality.
Public Health:
- Food access: About 30% of Brooklyn adults report experiencing food insecurity, or lack of access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food options. Access to fresh and healthy food is crucial to maintain health throughout one’s life. Without it, these 30% of Brooklynites may be experiencing higher rates of chronic conditions such as heart disease and diabetes, mental health concerns such as anxiety and depression, and difficulty concentrating on everyday tasks. And this problem is only worsening with Federal cuts to SNAP/EBT, WIC, and other benefits. The administration should prioritize the following programs in programs in FY27:
- Community Food Connection: Formerly known as the Emergency Food Assistance Program (EFAP), this HRA program needs $100 million to provide funding for more than 700 city kitchens and food pantries.
- Get the Good Stuff: This program, which allows SNAP/EBT recipients to receive up to $10 per day in matching funds for fruits, vegetables, and beans, is currently on pause. The $3.1 million baselined is a great start, and I would love to see this expanded to more Brooklyn grocery stores.
- Meals for older adults: Food insecurity is particularly pronounced among older adults on fixed incomes. NYC Aging needs an increase of $60 million for congregate meals at older adult centers (which many older adults rely on) just to cover current needs, and $27 million to deliver home-delivered meals daily.
- Healthcare access: Brooklyn, like all of NYC, has profound health disparities. Life expectancy can vary as much as 20 years from neighborhood to neighborhood. Neighborhoods such as Bed-Stuy, Red Hook, and East Flatbush have fewer local options for primary care in comparison to other parts of the borough. Neighborhood health is often correlated with racial segregation and income, and many programs present barriers for non-citizens. To improve health outcomes, the administration must address inequities in healthcare access, cost, and quality.
- AccessHealth NYC: This initiative funds community-based organizations to provide education, outreach, and assistance as New Yorkers, including immigrants and asylum seekers, navigate healthcare eligibility, coverage, and benefits. Expanding its funding to $4.5 million would meet the current need.
- NYC Care: New Yorkers who can’t afford or don’t qualify for health insurance, including immigrants, rely on this program for coverage. This will be even more critical as some immigrants are expected to lose Essential Plan coverage in 2026 and Affordable Care Act coverage in 2027. Due to this increased need, its funding should be doubled to $200 million.
Public safety:
It should be noted that there are clear opportunities for cost savings related to public safety. In the current fiscal year, police overtime is on track to exceed more than $400 million over what is currently budgeted. Meanwhile, the Department of Correction budget is inflated to the tune of $174 million including vacant positions. Enforcing the NYPD overtime budget and cutting vacant positions at DOC could generate savings to cover real investments in communities through the new Office of Community Safety and other agencies.
- Alternatives to Incarceration: It is a relief to have an administration that agrees that closing the Rikers Island jail is a moral imperative. However, with the jail population having increased every year for the past several years, we have a longer way to go than we did when we voted to close Rikers by August of next year. We can start by restoring cuts ($4.6 million) and expanding funding ($20 million) for Alternatives to Incarceration and reentry programs that redirect justice-involved New Yorkers to community-based supports instead of jails, and provide supports for those who have been in jail to reintegrate into their community and the workforce and avoid recidivism.
- Mental health supports: 50% of men and 80% of women on Rikers Island have a diagnosed mental health issue, making Rikers the largest mental healthcare provider in the state. We must change this by providing needed mental health services before New Yorkers enter the carceral system. This includes:
- Intensive Mobile Treatment: This program brings mental health, substance use, and peer specialists directly to communities to help people in need. According to the Mayor’s Office of Community Mental Health, IMT is only meeting about 60% of current need, with 575 people on the waitlist. $52 million would provide the funding needed to eliminate the waitlist.
- Crisis Respite Centers: A 2023 law requires the City to open four more crisis respite centers, which provide alternatives to hospitalization for people experiencing mental health crisis. $6 million would restore cuts and add necessary funding.
- Supportive housing: The Preliminary Budget includes $82 million for supportive housing. The administration should ensure that at least $20.3 million of this is allocated for new units for people with court involvement and mental health diagnosis.
- Board of Correction: The Board of Correction is our main method of oversight on the Department of Correction, to ensure the agency is complying with standards for conditions of confinement and that incarcerated people are receiving needed health and mental health care. The Board is seeking a budget increase of $2.8 million, which would increase its total FY27 budget to $6.8 million, to address personnel, operational support, and modern tech infrastructure. This represents approximately 0.0054% of the City’s budget, yet OMB is asking for further cuts. Given the cost savings available and the fact that BOC has testified that staff cuts would greatly impact the Board’s ability to conduct its Charter-mandated duties, OMB should rescind the ask for cuts and approve the increase.
- Civilian Complaint Review Board: Similarly, the CCRB is struggling to fulfill its Charter obligations—investigating complaints of police misconduct—due to underfunding. While complaints are up, the number of cases closed is down compared to last year, according to the MMR. Average time to complete an investigation is also up, to 420 days as of this year, and CCRB representatives testified that approximately 1,390 complaints were not investigated last year. CCRB is requesting a dramatic increase in its staffing to a total of 500 positions and an approximately $66 million agency budget to address this need. It must be noted that with this increase, CCRB’s budget would still represent less than 1% of NYPD’s.
OLDER ADULTS
With the rising cost of living in Brooklyn, many older adults who live on fixed incomes are struggling with the increased cost of everything from rent to food. The Plan proposes ensuring that our elders have access to housing, workforce development programs, and other benefits that they need.
- NYCHA Older Adult Centers: The City Council oversight hearing on NYC Aging’s budget identified a difficult issue—for Older Adult Centers located in NYCHA buildings, NYC Aging must rely on NYCHA for repairs. Per NYCHA, NYC Aging cannot use its limited capital budget or allow OAC providers to make repairs on their own; instead, they must submit a ticket to NYCHA and work through a slow and inefficient process. This administration must give more attention to coordination between NYCHA and NYC Aging to repair and upgrade OACs before they fall into such disrepair that they are forced to close.
- Digital Literacy: In Brooklyn, 16.2% of the population is over the age of 65—a 5% increase in the past two decades—and this share is expected to continue growing, with the number of NYC residents aged 65 and older projected to grow 40% by 2040. Many of these older adults are facing difficult financial circumstances, with 23% of Brooklyn’s older adults living in poverty and 62% classified as rent burdened. The rising cost of living has forced more older adults to return to the workforce. The Digital Inclusion and Literacy Initiative allows Council Members to allocate funds for digital literacy, which can include courses for older adults.
- Borough President Allocations: Before FY26, the City Council funded the Borough Presidents’ offices to in turn fund programs for older adults through the BP Funding Restoration. The providers we funded were often struggling with rising demand in addition to rising costs for food, transportation, case management, and program delivery. That is why our offices collectively requested a 50% increase to the BP Funding Restoration, which would have brought the total allocation to $1,694,657. Instead, the City Council opted to allocate the funding themselves. This year, we respectfully request that this initiative be returned to the Borough Presidents. With a borough-wide perspective, we can ensure that the funding addresses areas with the most need, and that service providers can continue delivering high-quality, culturally competent programs to older New Yorkers without interruption or reduction.
EDUCATION AND YOUTH
The Plan imagines a borough that serves its diverse young people through upgraded and equitable school infrastructure, robust programs for all students including those with special needs, and support for students and families that encourages student success. Equitable access to quality education in every part of Brooklyn can help reduce longstanding achievement gaps and ensure that every child, from early childhood programs through graduation, can succeed.
Cost Savings:
The following are measures stakeholders have identified to serve our youth while reducing costs and maximizing savings:
- Support the NY State Assembly and Senate one-house budgets, which expand the Foundation Aid Formula, with increased weights for Students in Temporary Housing and English Language Learners.
- Advocate at the State level to reinstitute school-district-level caps on allotments for IESP cases to control for the exponential increase in costs (totaling $1.7 billion in FY25).
- Support State advocacy for legislation to authorize offering new school busing contracts with the inclusion of Employee Protection Provisions (EPPs), allowing for a new competitive RFP with better quality control measures, competitive bidding, and expansion of vendors.
- Submit a Waiver of Hardship to the State for Raise the Age, which would allow NYC to receive State aid for implementation costs.
Programs for student success:
Ensuring that every student can succeed in today’s school system requires expansion and promotion of specialized programs for District 75 students, students with special needs, and students in temporary housing. Such programming should center the “whole child” approach to learning, which focuses on students’ social, emotional, physical, and mental health. This includes:
- Restorative justice: $6 million for DOE will reduce overreliance on suspensions and promote conflict resolution.
- Mental Health Continuum: $889,000 for DOE/DOHMH will provide mental healthcare to students at 50 schools.
- Immigrant family communications and outreach: $4 million for DOE will help families receive information about their child’s school in a language and mode they can access.
- Sensory Exploration, Education, and Discovery (SEED) Program: $12 million for DOE will provide programming in dedicated spaces for students with diverse needs, including those in special education programs and students with autism.
- Foster care transportation: $3 million for ACS will provide interim transportation for students in foster care waiting for bus service to begin.
Facilities:
Students in Brooklyn public schools face stark disparities in access to resources and facilities, which can be even more difficult for students with special needs. By addressing gaps, we can create school environments where every student, regardless of background or ability, has the opportunity to thrive. Relevant programs include:
- Capital upgrades for sustainability and resiliency: Support the modernization of school building to fully electric, installing solar power, and upgrading heating and cooling systems with targeted investment to spaces of assembly.
- Capital upgrades for accessibility: $450 million in capital funding over five years will make more schools accessible to students, parents, educators, and community members with physical disabilities.
CUNY:
CUNY is a key partner in addressing the disparities in educational attainment across the borough (for example, 20% of residents in East New York and Cypress Hills have a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared to 79% in Park Slope and Carroll Gardens). Yet their facilities are in dire need of upgrades, and their students may need extra supports to succeed. The following are priorities for this fiscal year:
- Free OMNY Card Pilot program: CUNY is asking for a pilot program to fund free OMNY cards for students to address this literal barrier to entry. The proposal would split the cost between the State and the City, with the City’s cost estimated at about $700k. If this is funded in the State budget, the City should be prepared to contribute its part.
- CUNY Reconnect and ACE: These programs provide financial and administrative supports for bachelor’s degree students and returning students, respectively. Both programs are not baselined, and students and staff should not have to worry about whether these successful programs are available next year.
- CUNY ASAP: The Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP), which provides targeted services to students earning their associates degree, is clearly a success, more than doubling associate degree completion rates according to the MMR. With an increase of 1,000 students participating in the last year, the administration should ensure that the program is fully funded to address needs.
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
By prioritizing job quality, stability, and accessibility, Brooklyn can build a more inclusive economy—one that reflects the borough’s diversity, reduces income disparities, and provides economic security for all residents. The Plan envisions a Brooklyn where economic growth translates into opportunity for all residents. This means supporting small businesses, ensuring industrial and commercial areas remain hubs of economic activity, modernizing infrastructure, improving freight and logistics networks, and investing in workforce development programs.
Industrial Business Service Providers:
For more than 40 years, IBSP organizations have served as the City’s trusted, on-the-ground partners in supporting the industrial sector. Each IBSP is located in the community or communities it serves, and has multiple staff who connect businesses to financing, real estate, workforce development, and City incentive programs. Yet SBS has proposed essentially eliminating these programs through its recent Business Solution and Industrial Business Zone Centers RFP. Investing in the IBSPs can leverage other public and private funding sources to make sure every dollar goes further. Moreover, a recent study found that for every $1 spent on manufacturing, there is a total impact of $2.68 to the overall economy, the highest of any economic sector. I urge the administration to rescind this RFP and instead increase funding for the IBSPs and provide long-term contracts to allow organizational stability.
Childcare:
Work disruptions related to childcare are more common among low-income families, with more than half of all mothers living below 200% of the poverty line reporting difficulties accessing or affording reliable childcare. This is particularly acute for new mothers. According to the Center for American Progress, the average cost of center-based childcare in New York is approximately 80% higher for infants than it is for 4-year-old preschoolers. It is no wonder that in 2021, 41% of 25-54-year-old women living with children in NYC were not working, compared with just 24% of men. Free or highly subsidized childcare levels the playing field for families, allows parents to stay in the workforce, and alleviates financial stress on parents. The administration has already made impressive progress, and can keep it going by funding the following:
- ACS childcare vouchers: ACS has experienced an uptick in voucher enrollment. At the Council’s budget hearing, ACS representatives said that proposed State funding will allow them to provide vouchers to all families currently receiving them but will not be enough to expand to the existing 16,000-child waitlist. Meanwhile, Council Finance analysis estimates a $320 million gap to addressing current caseload, not to mention the waitlist. I support City Council’s advocacy to the State to close this gap and end the waitlist.
- Early Childhood Education Outreach: As new childcare seats become available due to this administration’s expansion of the program, it is critical that families learn about the opportunity. I support advocates’ ask for $5 million for DOE for outreach.
- Promise NYC: This critical program provides childcare for families that make less than 300% of the Federal Poverty Level, regardless of immigration status. As more families come to depend on this program, the administration should double the allocation to $50 million and baseline it.
IMMIGRATION
The Plan celebrates a diverse borough where 35% of the population is foreign-born. It calls for protecting our immigrant communities from unlawful actions from the Federal government, enforcement of our sanctuary city protections, and ensuring that the newest New Yorkers have access to the resources they need to thrive.
- Immigration legal services: Given the federal administration’s deportation agenda and potential escalations in NYC over the next year, I support advocates’ ask for $85 million in funding for immigration legal services.
- Immigrant and Family Communications and Outreach Initiative: This initiative assists public schools in their communication with immigrant families through partnerships with local community-based organizations. As these communications become even more necessary, the $4 million for this program should be baselined.
- Adult Literacy: The City Council’s Adult Literacy Forward initiative has done impressive work since its inception in 2022, serving over 10,000 students. Thus, it makes sense to consolidate various adult literacy programs under this initiative and increase the total allocation to $18 million. I also support advocates’ ask for a new $20 million Education for Integration and Equity initiative to counter proposed federal cuts to federal adult literacy funding.
COMMUNITY BOARDS
Robust and meaningful community engagement depends on well-resourced and functioning community boards, yet they often struggle to carry out their Charter-mandated functions due to insufficient funding. Each board is its own independent agency, yet community boards have very small staffs and cannot exercise the full complement of services generally performed by a City agency, including but not limited to: procurement, human resources, and information technology support, without assistance. Additionally, community boards suffer from a confusing regulatory framework that results in a lack of support from City agencies.
The City should increase community boards’ budgets to allow for the payment of competitive salaries within existing NYC pay ranges and necessary expenses for day-today operations. This would include hiring an experienced District Manager and at least three full-time, professional support staff, as well as paying for upgraded technology, livestreaming meetings, office supplies, etc.
Thank you for your consideration of these proposals. I look forward to working with all of you to create and finalize an FY27 budget that supports all New Yorkers.
