Without urgent budgetary action from Governor Kathy Hochul, Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, and Speaker Carl Heastie, New York’s Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) will soon be unable to meet growing child care demand, putting tens of thousands of families in crisis.
CCAP is a lifeline for working families across the state. It enables parents to go to work, ensures children have access to safe, high-quality care, and supports both child care providers’ and the state’s economic stability. CCAP enrollment has grown rapidly in recent years, thanks to State lawmakers who increased income eligibility for the program so that more low-income families could access it amidst an affordability crisis. But voucher supply is not keeping up with growing demand, creating a statewide emergency that demands immediate action.
Because of insufficient CCAP vouchers, four upstate counties have already begun turning away families who rely on these vouchers to access child care. Even more counties expect to do so by summer, leaving working parents without the support they need to remain in the workforce. The situation in New York City is particularly dire given the nearly $1 billion CCAP shortfall in the State FY2026 budget, threatening child care access for more tens of thousands of children and their families.
Our research projects that the reinstatement of work requirements for Temporary Assistance (TA) recipients, managed by the Human Resources Administration (HRA) for TA recipients in the city, will drive a significant uptick in child care voucher usage. As these requirements take effect, the number of TA families needing child care vouchers is projected to surge from 23,601 in December 2024 to as many as 67,000 by the end of State FY2026. New York State mandates that all counties provide child care to these families so that they can meet their work obligations to maintain their TA benefits. Without adequate State funding, though, counties will have no choice but to take vouchers away from other low-income families who are not on TA but cannot otherwise afford child care.
While these State policies are designed to facilitate employment, New York has not allocated the necessary funding to support the child care needs for the influx of TA families into the workforce. Without an additional $900 million, tens of thousands of families who do not qualify for TA, but who still struggle to make ends meet, will lose access to affordable child care. This will compromise the ability of these low-income families to go to work, potentially forcing them out of the workforce entirely and increasing their own need for other forms of public assistance–such as Unemployment Insurance, Medicaid, and even Temporary Assistance itself.
The rising costs of child care are also a key driver of this crisis. Since 2019, the average CCAP voucher value has nearly doubled to better cover some of the necessary costs of keeping child care program doors open. The child care workforce is among the lowest paid sectors in the economy despite its immense importance to it. Even with these increases, these voucher rates aren’t sufficient to cover the cost of good wages in the sector, but they are a step towards improving the stability and quality of New York’s child care system. And while voucher rates have increased, State funding has not kept pace. In New York City alone, the budget can support approximately 79,827 vouchers per month—yet in December 2024, the city already provided 88,911. Across the state, counties are increasingly facing similar shortfalls, forcing them to cap enrollment, increase waitlists, or cut off CCAP voucher assistance for families who depend on it to remain in the workforce.
This is not a one-time problem. If the State does not act now, the affordability crisis for families will grow, and New York will struggle to build a sustainable child care system that supports both families and providers. After allocating sufficient funding for FY2026, the State must also commit to long-term funding solutions to ensure that all families have access to affordable, high-quality child care.
Any investment New York makes towards child care is about more than just dollars and cents; it’s also about investing in our children, our workforce, our economy, and our future. Governor Hochul, the solution is clear: the FY2026 budget must include the necessary funding to keep New York’s child care system from collapsing.
Lauren Melodia is the Director of Economic & Fiscal Policy at the New School’s Center for New York City Affairs.
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