New York City’s nonprofit organizations have scaled back food assistance, laid off staff and ended programs this year due to federal funding reductions — even as the deepest budget cuts by the Trump administration are yet to come, a new report found.
“It's what we're calling the biggest threat in a generation to the city's social services organizations, and the New Yorkers who rely on them,” said Jonathan Bowles, executive director of the nonpartisan think tank Center for an Urban Future, which released a report Tuesday showing how the city’s safety net of social service organizations are already feeling reductions in federal aid.
The Trump administration has cut dollars for shelter and emergency food, as well as for AmeriCorps programs that help organizations pay volunteers. It has also withheld reimbursements from certain health care programs.
Administration officials have said its cost-cutting measures are meant to curb waste, fraud and abuse and are restructuring programs such as AmeriCorps, SNAP and Medicaid to better serve Americans who need the most care while keeping spending in check.
Bowles said “ the worst is yet to come” and the deepest cuts are expected to hit by 2026 and 2027. That’s when cuts to homeless housing programs will kick in and when new work requirements to Medicaid could push thousands off their insurance, which means organizations who rely on reimbursements won’t receive those dollars.
“It's very possible some nonprofits are going to have to shut their doors,” Bowles said. The 22 organizations surveyed for the report said almost a third of their budgets come from federal dollars, and for some the proportion can be as high as 50%.
According to the report, in New York City, the cuts resulted in the Food Bank for New York City receiving 10 million fewer pounds of food this year, Children’s Aid eliminating a program delivering weekly bags of food to 1,000 people and BronxWorks cutting classes that teach New Yorkers to cook nutritious meals on a budget. SAGE, a nonprofit that serves LGBTQ+ older adults, ended a program for 1,000 socially isolated older adults and laid off 19 staffers.
Last month, the Trump administration announced it was cutting two-thirds of funding for long-term housing programs in January and instead offering grants for short-term programs with mandatory treatment and work requirements. Federal housing officials said the move is needed to increase self-sufficiently and address the root causes of homelessness, which they say are mental health and addiction, as well as protect public safety.
“There is a very heightened focus on safety and there's a belief, which I think is a lot overblown, that the population we serve is putting everyday New Yorkers at risk on the streets and on the subways,” said Eric Rosenbaum, president and CEO of Project Renewal, that provides shelter and supportive housing.
“The irony here is that the way in which we take care of those people is actually keeping New York safer.”
At least 46 nonprofits in the city receive money from these grants to provide supportive housing for formerly homeless people with mental illness or substance abuse, the report said. With the majority of funds at risk, organizations worry about other potential reductions in service — such as the Jericho Project, concerned it could have to close a 75-unit building for veterans in the Bronx, according to the report.
The report said some organizations are opting out of applying for certain grants because of new federal requirements that they can’t agree to, such as barring helping undocumented people. New York City has a right to shelter law which offers a bed to anyone who asks for one and nonprofits don’t check immigration status before offering help.
Bowles said the city should set aside funding to create a nonprofit stabilization fund to help cover the most urgent needs around food, shelter and healthcare.
