Under the Mayor's spending plan, the budget for the Department of Education will reach nearly $24.4 billion next year. That's up from about $17 billion in 2008. What's been driving the increase?
The number of adults and families in the city's homeless shelters and the budget for the Department of Homeless Services have both reached record levels this fiscal year. Does the Mayor's preliminary budget for next year include adequate funding for the shelter system?
Mayor Bill de Blasio is again calling for the implementation of a “mansion tax:” a surcharge on the sale of high-end residences in the city. The Mayor made this one of the featured proposals in his state of the city speech as well as in recent testimony to the state Legislature.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development inspects public housing developments across the country to ensure that they are safe, sanitary, and in good repair.
Cases of sexually transmitted diseases—chlamydia, gonorrhea, and (primary and secondary) syphilis—have reached their highest reported levels in 30 years in NYC and record levels nationwide.
Unlike many of the other major de Blasio Administration initiatives, there has been relatively little focus on ThriveNYC, which aims to greatly expand access to behavioral health services in the city. We detail the resources being committed to the 54 programs under the ThriveNYC umbrella
With the Governor's recent proposal, the now lapsed 421-a tax break for housing is again a major focus of the public policy agenda. Despite the fact that 421-a costs the city a considerable amount in foregone tax dollars--$1.4 billion this fiscal year due to prior commitments--there has been little research examining the tax break's effect on housing prices and whether the tax benefit efficiently fosters housing development, the 421-a program's primary goal. We explore these questions in regard to condos receiving 421-a benefits.
The Department of Transportation repairs and maintains the city’s streets. To fulfill this task, the department performs an ongoing street quality assessment and rates sections of every street in the city on an 18-month rolling basis on a scale from 1 to 10.