New York City spent about $81,705 per unsheltered homeless person last year, up from $28,428 six years earlier, according to a new report from the state comptroller.
Any time government spending has increased by 262 percent to address a problem that has simultaneously worsened, by 25 percent in New York’s case, it’s essential to ask where all that extra cash is going — and whether there’s a better way.
For context, New York City’s median household income is $81,228. That means every unsheltered homeless person would technically join the middle class if the city just wrote them a check for what it’s spending on their behalf.
Of course, homelessness is more than a problem of income. These folks have already fallen through federal, state and local welfare programs — all costly — designed to keep them off the streets.
For many, it’s a problem of substance abuse and mental illness. These are not problems that go away by giving money to the people who suffer from them. Involuntary commitment is a better answer for the individual’s health and for the public’s safety. That’s really expensive, too.
Homelessness in the country’s biggest city is unique because a consent decree from 1981 requires the city to provide shelter to anyone. That means the $368 million spent on unsheltered homeless persons in 2025 accounted for just 9 percent of the city’s Department of Homeless Services spending. Most of the money goes to services for people already living in shelters.
Because the city already spends so much on those shelters, the people who remain outside are usually the most difficult to serve. Part of the surging cost was the result of the Subway Safety Plan under former mayor Eric Adams (D), a worthy effort to get the homeless out of the transit system, where they menace and assault passengers.
The state comptroller points out that it’s too difficult to know where to cut right now because the city doesn’t use data as effectively as it should. That’s true both for determining where spending is going and whether it’s helping improve outcomes. The report recommends that the city adopt metrics to track how effectively contractors, who provide most homeless services, are performing work they’re paid handsomely for.
“The assessment of outcomes takes on greater importance,” the report says, “as growing demands compete for limited resources.”
Resources are always limited, especially for local governments that don’t have the luxury of a central bank. Politicians cannot be allowed to pat themselves on the back for simply spending more money on social services. As this report demonstrates, more spending does not cause better outcomes.
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