OAN Staff Lillian Mann
3:10 PM – Sunday, July 19, 2026
New York City has provided nearly 865,000 people welfare checks over the past year–a record-breaking supply that has prompted public assistance spending to soar to more than $2.6 billion, according to a New York Post report.
An examination of an analysis of agency records revealed the city’s Department of Social Services provided aid to 864,999 welfare recipients during the 12-month period ending May 30th. This marks a 55.7% surge since 2022, reaching numbers NYC has not experienced in nearly three decades.
The city’s taxpayer-funded budget for cash assistance experienced an even sharper increase, rising 72.6% from $1.57 billion in fiscal year 2022 to $2.71 billion for the current fiscal year that started July 1st, according to the New York Post.
Combined with the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the city paid out $7 billion in welfare to residents in 2024, according to the city’s Human Resources Administration (HRA).
New York’s ongoing welfare crisis has landed on the shoulders of Democratic Socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D-N.Y.), however, little change has been recorded since he was sworn into office in January.
The report noted that more exceedingly wealthy people could leave the city, taking their jobs with them if Mamdani continues to “tax the rich.”
“When I ran for mayor, I said I was going to tax the rich. Well, today, we’re taxing the rich. I’m thrilled to announce we’ve secured a pied-à-terre tax, the first in New York’s history. This is an annual fee on luxury properties worth more than $5 million whose owners do not live full time in the city, like for this penthouse, which hedge fund CEO Ken Griffin bought for $238 million,” Mamdani said.
“This is the Communist Playbook 101: make everyone reliant on the government, so the masses have no choice but to support the people signing their checks,” predicted Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-N.Y.). “This is only going to get worse as the Democratic Socialists of America ramp up their tax-the-rich rhetoric and drive even more jobs out of the city. With every job they force out, the far left gets one more person dependent on them. It’s all part of the plan.”
Meanwhile, New York and California have faced billions of dollars in lost revenue as residents migrate to other states in search of a lower cost of living, tax relief and a better quality of life.
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