{"id":32255,"date":"2025-11-07T19:08:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T19:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/32255\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T19:08:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T19:08:09","slug":"zohran-mamdani-wants-to-make-universal-child-care-a-reality-in-nyc-heres-a-look-at-the-costs-and-the-savings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/32255\/","title":{"rendered":"Zohran Mamdani wants to make universal child care a reality in NYC. Here’s a look at the costs, and the savings."},"content":{"rendered":"

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani won his way into City Hall<\/a> on a campaign that promised to make the city more affordable<\/a> for working class residents. Part of those policies involve something known as universal child care.<\/p>\n

Mamdani has called on the city to establish free, high-quality child care for children 6 weeks to 5 years old — something previously introduced in the City Council<\/a>. He also wants to increase wages for child care workers to be in line with public school teachers<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The best way to keep families in New York City is to make it cheaper to raise one here,” Mamdani says in a video on his campaign website<\/a>, adding he plans to open more child care centers by sharing space with the Department of Education, subsidizing commercial rent and easing regulations.<\/p>\n

His campaign has not provided a price tag for the program, but he says the lack of universal child care cost the city’s economy more than $20 billion in the last four years, with mothers having to leave the workforce and families leaving the five boroughs altogether.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mamdani, Hochul aligned on affordability<\/p>\n

While some have criticized the mayor-elect’s plan to pay for his agenda by increasing taxes on the wealthy and corporations<\/a>, he says it will actually help the business community by making the city more attractive to top talent and their families. Raising taxes is not a move the mayor can make unilaterally<\/a> – such a decision would have to come from the state legislature in Albany.<\/p>\n

“What I’ve heard from a number of business leaders is that the affordability crisis is also affecting their ability to attract and retain talent. The city’s inability to provide child care means that businesses often have to provide stipends for that child care,” Mamdani said in a TV interview the morning after the election<\/a>. “Right now, the absence of universal child care means that a family will pay around $22,500 a year.”<\/p>\n

It remains to be seen whether Gov. Kathy Hochul and the legislature will go along with any tax hikes, especially in an upcoming election year<\/a>, but the governor has been a longtime supporter of lowering child care costs. Last year, her administration mailed out $350 million in Empire State Child Tax Credit checks<\/a>, with more than a million eligible families receiving up to $330 per child.<\/p>\n

“We’ve had our disagreements. But in our conversations, I heard a leader who shares my commitment to a New York where children can grow up safe in their neighborhoods and where opportunity is within reach for every family. I heard a leader who is focused on making New York City affordable – a goal I enthusiastically support,” Hochul wrote in an op-ed endorsing Mamdani<\/a> in the general election.<\/p>\n

Of all Mamdani’s democratic socialist<\/a> policies — from a rent freeze<\/a> to free buses<\/a> — universal child care may be among the most achievable, some political experts say.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“One of the easiest things he’ll probably be able to do is get some sort of deal from Albany on his universal child care program. That’s something that he and Gov. Kathy Hochul are pretty well aligned on,” said POLITICO reporter Nick Reisman. “But there are other items that are going to be a little bit harder for him to enact.”<\/p>\n

Child care out of reach for most NYC families, study finds<\/p>\n

A\u00a0February 2024 report<\/a>\u00a0from the 5BORO Institute found a typical New York City day care cost at least $20,000 a year, and that\u00a0more than 80% of families could not afford it<\/a>, even for one child.<\/p>\n

The study found minority families were the most impacted, with some forced to leave the city. It also found only 5% of licensed day care providers operate between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m., despite 780,000 New York City parents working those hours.<\/p>\n

“In 2022, New York City’s estimated to have lost $23 billion in economic activity because of parents who left the workforce or had to downshift their careers to take care of children,” 5BORO Institute Executive Director Grace Rauh told CBS News New York at the time.<\/p>\n

Rauh said the study also found day care providers could barely make ends meet. Due to rising costs, the study showed a major\u00a0decline in the number of available child care providers<\/a>\u00a0— with only 50% of families able to find licensed facilities.<\/p>\n

NYC’s ever-expanding fight for child care<\/p>\n

Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who endorsed Mamdani<\/a> in the election,\u00a0majorly expanded the city’s pre-K program<\/a> during his time in office to include seats for 3-year-olds, in a push known as “3-K for All.”<\/a><\/p>\n

Mayor Eric Adams has come under fire<\/a> over his administration’s cuts to early childhood education<\/a>, but he ultimately struck a deal in this year’s budget<\/a> to put $10 million toward a new 2-K program.<\/p>\n

“This pilot program is a breakthrough for our city and for our working class New Yorkers,” Adams said at the time.<\/p>\n

The city also offers some financial assistance programs for families in need, but advocates of universal child care say many are unaware of the resources available or how to apply.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, New Mexico became the first state in the nation to offer free universal child care<\/a>. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham told CBS News it will save families there an average of $12,000 a year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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