Reports

In October 2023, the MTA issued its latest 20 Year Needs Assessment (TYNA), which provides an unrestrained view of the capital needs of the system. This report from the Comptroller’s office examines the TYNA, reviews the depth of work needed to upgrade New York’s regional transit and highlights the urgent need for the MTA to state its priorities and funding plans as early as it can.

New York City housing costs have grown more than 68% over the last decade, the largest increase of selected major metropolitan areas in the U.S. Housing affordability, which considers the incomes of households, has also worsened in New York City over the last decade, as median rent prices, in particular, grew faster than median incomes. Many New Yorkers may continue to be priced out of their preferred neighborhoods without a substantial increase in the supply of affordable housing units for low- and moderate-income households.

New York City faces spending risks that could increase its budget gaps for Fiscal Years 2025 through 2027 to an average of $12.6 billion annually, fueled by spending choices made during the pandemic, underbudgeting for recurring spending, and significant costs associated with the influx of asylum seekers into the five boroughs. While many of the fiscal challenges facing the City are not in its direct control, preparation and transparency remain paramount to navigating this uncertainty.

Population shifts during and after the COVID-19 pandemic are changing the face of New York City. In the wake of the pandemic, the City’s populace is overall older and wealthier, with a rebounding population of international migrants and declining shares of White and Black New Yorkers. The cost of living also rose as the pandemic subsided, making the City increasingly more expensive for lower income New Yorkers, who left in greater numbers in 2022.

This report examines PIT filings for the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021 and follows up on DiNapoli’s May 2022 report that looked at pre-pandemic taxpayer migration trends.

The Hunts Point Food Distribution Center (FDC) is the largest food distribution center in the United States. The FDC distributes approximately 4.5 billion pounds of food annually, about half of which is for New York City. Modernizing FDC is critical to hardening the food supply for 22 million people in a 50-mile radius, protecting it from climate, power or other interruptions.

The South Bronx has undergone a period of revitalization that has enabled it to thrive as a cultural hotspot within the Bronx and New York City. South Bronx residents continue to face chronic health, economic and environmental challenges, and the City is seeking to address these issues while boosting economic growth. Continued focus on community benefits and active partnership among City departments, community-based organizations, and State and federal leaders, is critical for the long-term success of the South Bronx.

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Costs for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) program to provide transportation services for people with disabilities have declined in recent years, in part due to the MTA’s move to alternative transit services that provided $102.7 million in savings in 2022. Still, some measures of customer satisfaction initially deteriorated as a result of the move to “broker services” and must be monitored to ensure quality service.

New York City Health + Hospitals (H+H) is the largest municipal public health system in the country and the City’s largest provider of care to Medicaid patients, mental health patients, and uninsured patients. This brief highlights the latest issues confronting H+H, including operations after the public health emergency, the asylum seeker and migrant response, funding and nurse staffing.

The Department of Education (DOE) is the largest public school system in the nation. This brief highlights the latest issues confronting DOE, including unbudgeted spending on enrolled children of migrants and asylum seekers, the declining enrollment of K-12 students since the pandemic, the State's mandate on lowering class sizes, and more.

The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), the nation’s largest public housing authority, is also the City’s largest landlord (maintaining 7.1 percent of all rental apartments) and its greatest source of affordable housing, with 177,569 apartments in its portfolio. This brief highlights the latest issues confronting NYCHA, including declining rent collections, capital needs, maintenance issues, and more.

New York has led the nation in reducing the number of homeless veterans – largely driven by success in New York City. Between 2010 and 2022, the number of homeless veterans in the State fell by 83 percent. Robust federal funding has supported the programs to achieve the reductions.

The Office of the New York State Comptroller developed a tool that displays performance indicators, staffing levels and spending commitments assigned to a New York City service since January 2020. While there are many factors that affect service demand and provision, the tool can provide some insight on existing operational or budgetary phenomena or the emergence of potential risks to the City’s budget and the provision of certain services.

The Office of the State Comptroller has created this tool to document State and City emergency spending related to people seeking asylum. The data will be updated monthly and are available for download.

Economic indicators show New York City’s economy is recovering from the depths of the pandemic, with the City accounting for three-fifths of the State’s total wages and its sales tax collections rising to 43% of total statewide collections, nearing pre-pandemic levels. This reference document includes major demographic, economic and fiscal indicators that highlight New York City’s contribution to the State. The economic recovery of New York State is ultimately reliant on the continued return of population and business activity in New York City.

The number of domestic violence victims increased in 2022 by 8.5% in New York City and 8.7% in the rest of New York State when compared to 2019. With nearly 90,000 reported victims of domestic violence statewide in 2022, significant work remains to reduce the number of these destructive incidents and to ensure the availability of resources to assist victims.

Wall Street’s 2023 first half profits of $13 billion were down 4.3% from the same period last year but tracked the industry’s return to pre-pandemic levels of revenue after record profits in 2020 and 2021. Financial firms’ interest expenses were seven times higher in 2022 than in 2021. Data for 2022 will likely show a decline in the industry’s economic contribution, back to pre-pandemic levels (14.5% in NYC in 2019), reflecting the drop in firms’ profitability.

In a turnaround from the fiscal crisis it faced a year ago, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) today stands on firmer financial ground, largely because the State budget provided dedicated sources of revenue to close projected budget gaps. With this improved financial picture, the burden is now on the MTA to improve the region’s transit system and win riders back, while keeping its budget balanced.

New York City is planning drastic steps to reduce City-funded spending by as much as 15% in response to substantial budget gaps fueled by escalating costs in the years ahead. This report urges the City to provide greater transparency on nondiscretionary costs that it does not have direct control over to help the public, policymakers and its funding partners understand what’s at stake.

New York City’s residential real estate market has proven resilient to the COVID-19 pandemic recession, with family homes in the outer boroughs seeing significant growth in value as people sought larger spaces amid limited supply. However, changes to tax bills do not necessarily follow market values due to assessment caps and phase-ins. The complexity of the City’s property tax structure led to significantly larger increases in tax bills for lower-valued properties during the pandemic.