By Lucy Hodgman
December 19, 2024

ALBANY — Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the Child Poverty Reduction Act three years ago, setting the ambitious target of cutting New York’s child poverty rates in half by 2032.

On Wednesday, the advisory council created by this statute released a slate of recommendations for realizing that goal. Members of the council voted unanimously to support the expansion of public assistance benefits and the Empire State Child Credit — causes they hope will feature in Hochul’s executive budget next year.

“I would love if the governor would speak about her commitment to reducing child poverty in her State of the State address,” said Allison Lake, the executive director of the Westchester Children’s Association and a member of the Child Poverty Reduction Advisory Council. “These policies need to get into the budget to make them permanent and real for families. The advocacy is really just beginning.”

Members of the council stressed that the most efficient way to eliminate child poverty is by supplementing family income. The recommendations released this week aim to do just that, proposing benefits that assist families as directly as possible.

A central recommendation would increase the Empire State Child Credit to a maximum of $1,500 per child each year. It would be a dramatic increase from New York’s current child tax credit, which provides families with around $330 per child. The council also hopes to expand eligibility to the state’s poorest families, who currently aren’t supported by the benefit if they don’t make enough income to be tax-eligible.

“That’s actually putting cash in the pockets of families,” Lake said. “Right now, if you’re so poor that you don’t even pay taxes you’re not eligible for the tax credit. It really doesn’t make sense.”

The council also recommended expanding state food benefits and introducing a new housing voucher program for income-eligible households across the state, as well as increasing the public assistance basic allowance — programs that Lake said have not been updated to account for inflated living costs in more than a decade.

Kate Breslin, the director of the Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy and a member of the council, said many changes would be relatively easy to implement with a sufficient amount of funding. She noted that the panel’s recommendations are built on existing programs that could merely be “tweaked” to achieve greater impact.

Breslin stressed the urgency of the council’s recommendations. According to the most recent U.S. Census data, 18% of children in the state are experiencing poverty. Among children of color, poverty rates are close to 30%, with Black children estimated to be more than twice as likely to live in poverty than their white, non-Hispanic peers. Poverty rates also vary by geographic region — in Rochester, for example, around 41% of children are living in poverty, although that figure has risen as high as 51% in recent years.

“Not being able to send your kids to music lessons or not being able to participate in sports because you can’t afford a uniform — each of those things takes an opportunity away from our kids,” Breslin said. “They have fewer opportunities to find what they love. Experiencing poverty as a child can have lasting impacts on lifelong health, educational attainment and how and whether people are employed.”

Although the council was specifically commissioned in service of reducing the official poverty rate, Breslin said these policies would also have a positive impact on the many New York families living just above the poverty line.

With the recommendations in Hochul’s hands, members of the council hope to “applaud and prod” the governor on the issue, according to Children’s Agenda CEO Larry Marx. Last year, Hochul’s executive budget divided the council: some members endorsed the child poverty policies she proposed, while others called for bolder investment on the issue.

Members of the council were specifically critical of Hochul’s decision to omit the tax credit expansion they had endorsed. Similar federal tax credits enacted during the pandemic cut child poverty levels nearly in half, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This year, Marx said the credit expansion’s proven effectiveness had shaped the council’s decision to make it a cornerstone of their recommendations.

“The governor’s office has been very attentive to the Child Poverty Reduction Advisory Council,” Marx said. “Now, the ball is in her court to forward those recommendations, making sure they’re not just paper but can actually be pushed into real budget proposals.”

Hochul will detail her budget proposal in the weeks ahead before a formal plan is released in the second half of January.

Original article: https://www.timesunion.com/capitol/article/state-task-force-releases-recommendations-reduce-19988416.php