NYC starts moving families off the child care voucher waitlist, beginning with 3,000

The city has started moving families off its long waitlist for subsidized child care. The Administration for Children's Services sent letters and emails last week to about 3,000 families who have been waiting since May, telling them they can now apply for a voucher, Gothamist reported.

Those families are among nearly 30,000 waiting for help through the Child Care Assistance Program, which pays for child care or after-school care for low-income children from 6 weeks to 13 years old, and up to 19 for children with special needs. Earlier this month Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the city would move more than 10,000 children off the waitlist, using part of a $1.2 billion state child care commitment from Gov. Kathy Hochul, including $475 million for vouchers. The city has also eliminated co-payments and fees, so care is free for families who receive a voucher.

If you got a letter

• Deadline: send in a recertification application within 60 days of receiving the letter. If ACS doesn't get it in time, your children are removed from the waitlist and you would have to apply again from the back of the line, according to ACS.
• How: the fastest way is online at MyCity (mycity.nyc.gov). You can also apply by mail. Reviews can take up to two weeks.
• Even if you recently recertified, you still need to submit a new application after a waitlist letter, ACS says.
• No letter yet? ACS says not to apply until you are invited. Families are being invited in the order they joined the waitlist, on a rolling basis over the next several months, and the total depends on funding.

Who goes first

Under federal rules, ACS must first serve unhoused families, families with a child with special needs and families earning under 300% of the state income standard, which the agency puts at $99,000 a year for a family of four. A family of four can qualify for a voucher with income below $117,000, Gothamist reported. ACS told Gothamist it would start with the families who have waited the longest.

City figures show more than 16,000 children on the waitlist are 2 or younger and another 6,800 are 3 to 5, Gothamist reported. About 20% of the children on the list are already in a free city-funded program, but most preschool programs run about six hours a day and end in the summer.

Why providers are watching

Home-based providers in lower-income neighborhoods depend on vouchers. Ayan Wilson, who runs a home child care program in the East Bronx, told Gothamist she lost more than half of her children when their families were stuck on the waitlist, and now cares for only five. The city's new child care map lets families filter for programs that accept vouchers.

The voucher push sits alongside the city's free 2-K program for 2-year-olds, which is set to expand to more boroughs next fall.