Childcare voucher crisis puts over 60,000 families in limbo amid NYC-Albany budget feud

By Sadie Brown Posted on May 5, 2025

Ongoing budget disputes between New York City and Albany halted enrollment in a vital childcare voucher program Monday that serves more than 60,000 families statewide—many of them in the Bronx, where parents face the city’s highest childcare cost burden.

First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro announced Monday that families applying for subsidies through the threatened Child Care Assistance Program would be waitlisted indefinitely, blaming Albany for the $350 million shortfall in funding needed to rescue the program.