Heard Around Town

New York City’s municipal staffing problems are real

Mayor’s report shows staff declines at several major agencies, pointing to challenges in managing city jails and developing affordable housing.

New York City Hall

New York City Hall Jon Hicks/Getty Images

Municipal staffing shortages are leading to disruptions in connecting incarcerated New Yorkers to health care, producing and maintaining affordable housing, and even collecting property taxes, according to a new report from City Hall.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ administration released its first Mayor’s Management Report on Friday afternoon, covering Fiscal Year 2022 which spans the last six months of former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration and the first six months of Adams’ tenure.

A treasure trove of data on city agency performance, this year’s MMR provided some hard numbers that back up previously reported staffing shortages at agencies including the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the Department of Buildings, the Department of Correction, and more. While many have pointed to the mandate that city employees work in the office full-time as part of their decision to head for greener, more flexible pastures, employees who worked in person throughout the pandemic are also leaving. Correction officers, for example, have long been in short supply to manage the crisis on Rikers Island. 

At several points in the roughly 500-page report, City Hall blamed staffing shortages for problems with some city agencies’ performance. The Department of Correction, which has struggled with not only staff attrition but unexplained absences or officers on sick leave, had 7,068 uniformed personnel in Fiscal Year 2022, which is almost 400 fewer positions than the agency was budgeted to employ. Uniformed personnel at the DOC has steadily decreased at the agency since Fiscal Year 2018.

The report attributed a decrease in clinical health care encounters for incarcerated people to “sustained shortages” in DOC staffing. “The delivery of health services requires DOC to escort patients to clinic visits and to maintain safe and secure conditions in all clinical areas for the provision of health care,” the report noted. As City & State previously reported, overtime spending at New York City’s uniformed agencies including the DOC is also on the rise amid a staffing shortage. 

The Department of Housing Preservation and Development has also faced attrition problems, which has slowed the development of affordable housing in New York City. The last fiscal year saw a 45% decrease in the creation and preservation of affordable housing units, according to the Mayor’s Management Report. “Lower production levels in Fiscal 2022 were largely due to increasing construction costs and agency staffing challenges,” the report read. The report also blamed slower response times to housing quality complaints on “staffing challenges.” The average time to close emergency complaints – which includes heat and hot water issues – increased by three days, to 16.4 days, from Fiscal Year 2021 to 2022. The average time to close nonemergency complaints rose too.

At the Department of Environmental Protection, the report noted that “difficulty in hiring officers to replace those who have retired or resigned” led to a decline in the number of facility security checks on the city's water system over the previous year. The report said that the number of security checks is still above the targeted amount, however.

Even at some agencies where the Mayor’s Management Report didn’t specify staffing as a challenge, data showed declines in personnel, and in some cases, increases in overtime spending. 

The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene employed 6,090 people in the last fiscal year – less than the 7,350 it was budgeted for, and a decrease from even before the COVID-19 pandemic in Fiscal Year 2018, when the department employed 6,858 people. Overtime spending at the health department is also on the rise, and in the last fiscal year exceeded its authorized budget level.

The Mayor’s Management Report does not go into detail about what the city is doing to improve hiring and retention, but noted that it’s a priority at agencies like HPD. “HPD is committed to investing in staff and resources to support the creation and preservation of as many affordable housing units as possible,” the report read.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.