The Mamdani administration’s preliminary budget could end a program that helps homeless young people leave the shelter system and find permanent places to live.<\/p>\n
Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s proposed spending plan doesn\u2019t include money for housing specialists, who connect homeless teens and young adults to housing, mental health counseling or other services.<\/p>\n
Advocates for homeless youth say the cut comes as youth homelessness has been rising in the city, due in part to the remnants of the migrant crisis, rising rents and attacks on LGBTQ+ youth around the country. More than 10,000 New Yorkers between 14-24 years old slept in shelters or on the street in 2024, and hundreds continue being turned away from temporary beds because there\u2019s no more room, city data shows.<\/p>\n
\u201dWe’re seeing the highest numbers that the city has ever seen. It peaked under the Adams administration so a lot of this is inherited by the Mamdani administration,\u201d said Jamie Powlovich, a senior manager for the Coalition for the Homeless. \u201cNo young person in New York City should ever be faced with the question of where they’re going to be sleeping at night.\u201d<\/p>\n
New York City\u2019s homeless teens and young adults can access special shelters and services that are separate from the adult shelter population, so long as there are available beds. The city began hiring housing specialists and formerly homeless youth as \u201cpeer navigators\u201d in 2023 to help young people find housing more quickly. But the program was gutted by former Mayor Eric Adams, until the City Council restored funding last year.<\/p>\n
Now, it\u2019s once again at risk.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aEvery time we’re given a resource to provide our young folks as a pathway out of homelessness, it’s immediately taken away from us,\u201d said Sebastien Vante, associate vice president of Street Work programs at Safe Horizon.<\/p>\n
He said without the funding, Safe Horizon would lose five positions, including some formerly homeless youth hired to help their peers.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aIt’s so difficult for anybody to come to a program, to come to a space and ask for support. And when you see providers and staff members that look and identify like you, it makes it a little bit more comfortable for you to lean into the resources and really feel supported,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
City officials said the budget process is ongoing but that the 913 shelter beds currently available for youth would remain the same under the preliminary budget.<\/p>\n
The city\u2019s most recent temporary housing assistance report showed nearly 700 young people could not access a bed when they sought one in the first half of 2025, though advocates believe far more people than that were left without a place to sleep.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we begin this budget cycle, we\u2019re confronting a fiscal crisis we inherited while taking a hard look at how to protect and fund the services that matter most,\u201d City Hall spokesperson Sneha Choudhary. \u201cOur administration is committed to making sure homeless New Yorkers \u2014 especially young people \u2014 can access the shelter, stability, and support they need.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shelter providers say young people often wait six months for an open bed and have to either turn to the city\u2019s homeless shelter services for adults, where they don\u2019t always feel safe, or find other places to sleep. Advocates say young people need separate, designated shelters to help them out of homelessness.<\/p>\n