July 24, 2026

In The News-New York State  

Comptroller DiNapoli: Homelessness Falls Statewide Driven by NYC, But Rises Sharply in Many NY Regions

New York State’s overall homeless population declined in the past year, even as many communities outside New York City saw troubling increases, according to a new analysis issued by State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) most recent data show that the homeless population in New York dropped from January 2024 by nearly 8% to 145,560 in January 2025. The decline of 12,459 people was the largest of any state and was driven primarily by declines in New York City. This drop follows a doubling in the homeless from January 2022 to January 2024.

Comptroller DiNapoli’s analysis also highlights the rise in homelessness in many parts of the state, including the Capital Region.

“While the number of homeless declined, there’s a lot of work left to do,” Comptroller DiNapoli said. “The problem is widespread and it is not confined to major cities. In particular, the public, private and nonprofit sectors need to work together to address the crisis of so many children experiencing homelessness in New York.”

The New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance issued a directive in May requiring every county social services district to submit a new two-year Homeless Services Plan by September 1.

HUD divides the state into 25 regions called Continuums of Care (CoCs). The number of homeless people increased in 17 of these regions, with more than 10% growth in 11. HUD’s data shows the largest increases were in Columbia and Greene counties (58.9%), the City of Troy and Rensselaer County (55.2%), and in the City of Schenectady and Schenectady County (41.7%).

Children continue to make up a disproportionate share of New York’s homeless population at 31.7%, which is double the share in the rest of the country.

The report notes that the state is moving ahead with its multi-year housing plan and recently enacted statutory changes, which will direct more school aid to districts with homeless students. DiNapoli has previously called for additional efforts to reduce evictions and provide housing assistance, especially to families with children.

Even as New York puts more resources toward housing, HUD is shifting funding away from “housing first” solutions and making it harder to qualify for federal assistance. DiNapoli’s report emphasizes the need to prioritize housing, in particular for families with children, at the federal, state and local levels.

 

In The News-New York City

Mayor Mamdani Announces Full Slate of Committee Appointees for Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary

Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani this week announced the full slate of members appointed to the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary (MACJ), which evaluates candidates for judicial appointments and recommends qualified candidates to the Mayor.

In January, Mayor Mamdani signed an executive order directing the Committee to engage the full breadth of the legal community in the judicial selection process, including public defenders, attorneys who represent parents and children in Family Court and those working in indigent legal services.

The executive order also directs the Committee to regularly publish demographic data about the judicial applicant pool and create a searchable public database through which New Yorkers can monitor upcoming appointments.

The Committee’s duties include evaluating and appointing judges to the City’s Family and Criminal Courts, as well as interim judges to its Civil Courts. The Committee reviews judges to evaluate temperament, fairness and judgment before making recommendations to the Mayor. The Committee includes members that have been reappointed, and nominees from local law schools and judges.

The Committee expects to issue its first set of recommendations to the Mayor by the beginning of October, with a public hearing to follow that month.

Eighteen legal professionals join attorney Ali Najmi, the committee’s chair, and include:

• Dianisbeth Acquie – Current Assistant Dean of the Office of Judicial Careers at Columbia Law School and Vice President of the High School Division for the Sonia & Celina Sotomayor Judicial Internship Program. She graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College and earned her Juris Doctor cum laude from Harvard Law School. (Mayoral nominee)  

• Jill Soffiyah Elijah is the founder and former Executive Director of the Alliance of Families for Justice (“AFJ”). Prior to founding AFJ, Ms. Elijah was the Executive Director of the Correctional Association of NY. Prior to leading the Correctional Association, Ms. Elijah served as Deputy Director and Clinical Instructor at the Criminal Justice Institute at Harvard Law School.  Ms. Elijah also worked as a Supervising Attorney at the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, a Staff Attorney at the Juvenile Rights Division of the Legal Aid Society and in private practice. (Mayoral nominee)

• Julia Hernandez is an Associate Professor of Law at the CUNY School of Law where she co-founded and co-directs the Family Defense Practicum and Clinic. Before joining CUNY’s faculty, Julia was an attorney with Brooklyn Defender Services’ Family Defense Practice and Catholic Migration Services. Julia graduated from CUNY School of Law and received her BA in Anthropology and Latin American Studies from SUNY New Paltz. (Mayoral nominee)

• Everett Hopkins is the managing attorney of Hopkins Law Group, LLC. He served for eight years as general counsel and director of administration for the New York City Criminal Justice Agency. Prior to this position, he held key positions with the New York City Housing Preservation and Development and Fraud Enforcement with the Internal Revenue Service. (Mayoral nominee)
• Martin LaFalce serves as Associate Professor of Clinical Law at St. John’s University School of Law. Prior, he spent 14 years as a public defender at the Legal Aid Society, 10 years as a trial attorney in Manhattan and a policy attorney in Legal Aid’s Criminal Defense Practice. He received his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center and undergraduate degree from Georgetown University. (Mayoral nominee)
• Juan Luciano is a divorce lawyer. He began his career in Westchester and Queens working for immigrant families seeking to adjust their status in the United States. In 2013, he joined the assigned counsel panel for the Appellate Division First Department, serving in the Bronx and Manhattan Family Court. He received his JD from the University at Buffalo School of Law. (Mayoral nominee)

• Mina Malik is the CEO & Executive Partner of The Cochran Firm – New York and on the teaching faculty at Harvard Law School. Mina has served and held leadership positions in the Queens and Brooklyn District Attorney’s Offices, the Civilian Complaint Review Board, the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia and the D.C. Public Defender Service. Mina received her JD from The American University Washington College of Law and her BA from Bates College. (Mayoral nominee)  

• Sherbune Paul is an attorney with 10 years of experience and serves as a Senior Associate at Russo & Gould LLP. Her previous roles include serving as a Managing Attorney at Bailey Law Firm LLP, Associate in the Transportation Practice Group at Windels Marx and Supervising Attorney at the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission. Sherbune holds a JD from New York Law School and earned her BA in Sociology from Stony Brook University. (Mayoral nominee)

• Amber Baylor is the founding director of the Criminal Defense Clinic and Clinical Professor of Law at Columbia Law School. Prior to teaching, Baylor was a staff attorney with Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem and a trial attorney for Federal Defenders of San Diego, Inc. She received her LL.M from Georgetown University Law Center, holds a JD from New York University School of Law and earned her BA from Columbia University. (Chief Judge nominee)

• Judge Kristin Booth Glen brings a wealth of relevant experience as a judge, a legal educator, a practicing lawyer and an advocate for diversity in the profession and the court system. Judge Glen was elected to the Civil Court of the City of New York in 1980; during her term she also sat in Criminal Court, and as a Sitting Supreme Court Justice in both Civil and Criminal terms. In 1986 she was elected to Supreme Court where she sat in the Matrimonial and Malpractice Parts and chaired the Committee on Diversity. In 1992 she was appointed to the Appellate Term, hearing appeals from the Criminal and Civil Courts. She left the bench in 1995 to become the third Dean of CUNY School of Law, and after a decade of service there, was elected Surrogate, New York County. Judge Glen is an Honors graduate of Stanford University and Columbia Law School. (Chief Judge nominee)

• Camila Popin is the principal attorney at Popin Law, P.C. After law school, she concentrated in the areas of Divorce and Family Law. She received her law degree from Brooklyn Law School and graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science from St. Francis College. (Chief Judge nominee)

• Judge Milton Tingling served as County Clerk of New York County. He clerked for Harlem-based judges Justice Milton H. Richardson, Justice Wilford O’Connor and Justice Dennis Edwards, Jr, and ran a solo practice.  He received his law degree from North Carolina Central University School of Law and earned a BA from Brown University. (Chief Judge nominee)

• Joseph Drayton is a partner at Proskauer Rose LLP and is a first-chair trial lawyer with over two decades of experience.  He received his JD from University of Pennsylvania Law School and earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. (Presiding Justice, Appellate Division, First Judicial Department nominee)

• Danielle Jones is the Assistant Managing Attorney at Proskauer Rose LLP and Lecturer in Law at Columbia Law School. Previously, she was Deputy Managing Attorney of the Criminal Defense Practice of Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem. Danielle worked as a Principal Court Attorney in Kings County Supreme Court, Criminal Term and as an Assistant Law Clerk in New York County Supreme Court-Civil Term. She received her JD from Howard University School of Law and earned her BA in Communication from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. (Presiding Justice, Appellate Division, First Judicial Department nominee)

• Judge William Mastro was elected to the New York State Supreme Court in November 1992. He was appointed to the Appellate Division, Second Department, in June of 2002 and served as a justice of that court until December 2021. During his tenure with the court, Mastro twice served periods as acting presiding justice. He presently serves as a member of the Governor’s Appellate Division Second Department Screening Committee. He graduated from Villanova University and New York Law School. (Presiding Justice, Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department nominee)

• Thomas Principe is a partner at Kramer, Dillof, Livingston & Moore in Manhattan.  He is a former prosecutor with the Queens County District Attorney’s Office, rising to the rank of deputy bureau chief of the Supreme Court Trial Bureau. Principe served in the New York Army National Guard for 33 years, retiring as a brigadier general. He is a graduate of St. John’s University and St. John’s University School of Law and is a Past President of the Alumni Association of St. John’s University School of Law. (Presiding Justice, Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department nominee)

• Dennis Fan is the Founder and Director of Columbia Law School’s Appellate Litigation Clinic. He previously served as a senior assistant solicitor general in the New York Attorney General’s Office and before that worked in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Division.  At the start of the Biden Administration, he served as counsel to the assistant attorney general.  Dennis received his JD from Columbia Law School. (Law school nominee)

• Jared M. Trujillo is an Associate Professor of Law at CUNY School of Law, where he teaches Constitutional Law, Legislative Drafting, Critical Race Theory and courses focused on the criminal legal system. Before joining the faculty, he served as Senior Policy Counsel at the New York Civil Liberties Union. He previously served as President of the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys, UAW Local 2325 and worked as a juvenile defense and criminal defense attorney at The Legal Aid Society in New York City. (Law school nominee)

Members serve for a term of four years, except that members appointed at the recommendation of deans of law schools shall serve for a term of two years. The members first appoint to a four-year term shall serve until December 31, 2029, and members first appointed to a two-year term shall serve until December 31, 2027.

 

Mayor Mamdani Notifies Property Owners of New Pied-à-Terre Tax 

Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Department of Finance (DOF) Commissioner Richard Lee began notifying property owners that they may be subject to the new “pied-à-terre” tax via mail, marking the first step in implementing the tax which applies to certain properties New York City when owners have a separate primary residence.

The surcharge applies to one- to three-family homes, condominiums, and co-ops in New York City that are not used as a primary residence.  For property tax years 2026-27 and 2027-28, the surcharge may apply to:

• One-, two-, and three-family homes valued at more than $5 million.
• Condominium and cooperative units valued at $1 million or more.

DOF has launched a dedicated webpage featuring an eligibility tool, detailed guidance, and instructions for submitting documentation. The administration also funded 13 additional positions within DOF to implement the program and 11 additional staff positions at the Office of Administrative Tax Appeals (OATA) to support the administration of the surcharge.

According to the online application, property will not be subject to the surcharge if it is the primary residence of any of the following:

• The owner of the property.
• A tenant or subtenant.
• One or more individuals who collectively hold a majority interest in the LLC, corporation, or partnership that owns the property.
• An immediate family member of the owner or majority interest holder.
• The sole beneficiary of a trust.

The pied-à-terre charge will appear on the property tax bill that is due January 1, 2027.

 

COGE Releases 5 Ballot Proposals and Final Report to Make Government Work Better for New Yorkers

The Commission on Government Efficiency (COGE), the 2026 New York Charter Review Commission, released five final ballot proposals to make city government “work better, faster and more efficiently” for New Yorkers.   The ballot proposals were unanimously approved last night and will appear on November’s ballot.

These ballot proposals, accompanying COGE’s final report, are the culmination of 10 public hearings attended by 1,220 New Yorkers across the five boroughs, with 264 live testimonies and 603 pieces of submitted written testimony.   The proposals are:

 

Prop 1: Speed Up Timeline for Using Public Space–Including Outdoor Dining, Ramps and Benches

The Commission’s proposal would modify the revocable consent process that determines the use of public space by combining the sidewalk café and roadway dining revocable consent process into a single application and modernizing public notice requirements.

Goal: Cut the eight-month outdoor dining application process by 75% (to 2 months)

 

Prop 2 and related non-Charter reforms: Reform the Contracting Process to Improve Procurements, including for Small Business and Nonprofits

The Commission’s proposal aims to simplify the pre-contracting questionnaire and require quarterly meetings of the Procurement Policy Board (PPB). The proposal would also allow the Mayor to delegate certain contract approvals to agencies, make permanent a public comment period instead of a public hearing for contract awards and streamline the issuance of the client services plan.

Beyond ballot props, the City will also begin to move nonprofit Council discretionary awards from procurements to grants, an approach that in pilot stage has shown to cut time to payment from 10 to six months. The City will also begin to competitively procure umbrella agreements with nonprofits to create pools of qualified, pre-vetted nonprofit providers eligible to receive future project-specific task orders, to save up to seven months on a 13-month process.

Goal: Save up to 30 days on procurements

 

Prop 3: Fast-Track Street Safety Infrastructure Including Bike Lanes, Acquisition of Office Space and Activation of City Land

The proposal would simplify review of street safety projects to reduce construction timelines and allow the Commissioner of the Department of Transportation to fast-track street infrastructure improvements where there is an identified, immediate safety need. Additionally, this ballot question fast-tracks the sale or lease of small City properties, the air rights above landmarked City properties and the lease of office space for City workers.

Goal: Speed up street safety projects, including bike lanes, by at least 33% ; Reduce time for sale of small plots of City land from seven months to 90 days

 

Prop 4: Simplify Building Permitting

The Commission’s proposal would create a centralized permitting hub through which applicants could access and manage construction-related permits and approvals across City agencies. It would also allow additional divisions at the Department of Buildings to approve certificates of occupancy and centralize the City’s waterfront permitting process within the agency.

Goal: Bring 40 approvals from 18 separate offices and agencies into one place.

Prop 5 and related internal reforms: Set Contributions Goals for Rainy Day Fund to Ensure Sufficient Budgetary Reserves

The fifth ballot proposal would set a target amount of funds held in reserve –– 12% percent of the City’s total tax revenues. The proposal would also require the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB), in consultation with the Comptroller, to establish a deposit formula that would govern mandatory contributions to the rainy day fund. Beyond the ballot proposal, the City will also begin implementation of OMB service standards for the review of hirings and promotions as well as the review of capital project initiation applications.

Goal: Establishes reserves target of 12%, Internal reforms commit to review standard hires and promotions within 14 days and capital project initiation applications within 40 days.

Following the November election COGE will transition from a charter revision commission to an advisory board, according to the Mayor.

 

Briefs

State Launches Empire State MWBE Hub for New York’s Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprise Program

Developed by Empire State Development’s Division of Minority and Women’s Business Development, New York’s Empire State MWBE Hub, is a new mobile-friendly online platform that will modernize key operations of New York State’s Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprise program. The Hub will make it easier for businesses to apply for MWBE certification, manage their applications and business profiles, receive assistance and connect with state contracting opportunities.

Specifically, the hub will support:

• Electronic submission and management of MWBE certification and recertification applications;
• Communication between applicants and certification staff;
• Management of certification appeals and related documentation;
• A searchable directory of New York State-certified MWBE firms;
• Business-development outreach and event tracking;
• Customer service and helpdesk operations; and
• Reporting and data analytics to support program management and improve customer service.

It will replace the application-management and certified-business-directory functions of the current system. Compliance-related functions will remain in the existing platform, with the certified MWBE directory serving as a connection between the two systems.

The Hub will also help advance the shared effort by M/WBE certifying entities across New York State, including New York City’s Department of Small Business Services (SBS), Monroe County and the County of Erie and City of Buffalo Joint Certification Committee (JCC), to streamline the certification process.

 

Mayor Mamdani Appoints Veteran City Leader Anthony Shorris as President and CEO of the Economic Development Corporation

Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani appointed Anthony Shorris as President and CEO of the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC).

Shorris’ public sector career included service as First Deputy Mayor under Mayor Bill de Blasio and as a senior budget official under Mayor Edward I. Koch.   Over his career, Shorris also served as Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Deputy Chancellor for Operations at the Department of Education and in senior healthcare leadership at NYU Langone Health and Healthfirst. He teaches at Princeton University and serves as Vice Chair of the Regional Plan Association.

The administration also announced that former Chair of the Federal Trade Commission Lina Khan will serve as Chair of the NYCEDC Board of Directors. She will bring that experience to her new role, partnering with Shorris to help NYCEDC deliver reliably for working New Yorkers in every borough.

 

Mayor Mamdani Announces “OPEN for Small Business” to Increase Support for Small Businesses

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s “OPEN for Small Business” includes a package of more than 50 regulatory reforms to reduce the paperwork and bureaucracy facing the city’s 180,000 small businesses. In addition, he issued an Executive Order to complement and utilize the regulatory reforms.

The more than 50 reforms in OPEN cover almost every type of small business in New York City, and break down as follows: 25 for food service and food retail businesses, seven for transportation businesses, five for other retailers, four for child care providers, three for industrial and commercial businesses, two for personal care businesses, three for nonprofits running bingo and games of chance licenses, and six that apply to every business in the city.

 

NYC Comptroller Audit Finds NYC Schools Failed to Collect Up to $431M in Medicaid Reimbursements for Special Education Services

A new audit by the Office of Comptroller Mark Levine found New York City Public Schools (NYCPS) failed to collect as much as $431.6 million in Medicaid reimbursements over three fiscal years for a host of services for students with disabilities.

The audit released follows a 2021 examination of NYCPS’ efforts to seek eligible reimbursements on services rendered. NYCPS can seek Medicaid reimbursements for up to 10 services it provides to students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). Past audits have found the system only sought payment for some of the Occupational Therapy (OT), Physical Therapy (PT), and Speech Therapy (ST) services it provided. The latest audit found NYCPS still failed to seek reimbursement for any of the other seven Medicaid-eligible services.

NYCPS successfully claimed less than half of the total services it intended to claim reimbursement from Medicaid for over the three-year fiscal period. Under Medicaid rules, failure to meet just one documentation requirement prevents a claim of reimbursement. NYCPS also lacks any record of providing 16.2% of OT, PT or ST services required in IEPs. Auditors concluded that either those mandated services for students with IEPs were not performed or the documentation to track their results was not kept.

 

Mayor Mamdani Signs Executive Order to Make City Fleet Safer for Pedestrians, Cyclists and Drivers

Mayor Zohran Mamdani signed Executive Order 19, directing Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) to retrofit all non-emergency municipal trucks with pedestrian alerts and require pedestrian alerts and intelligent speed assistance for all new non-emergency vehicle and truck procurements.

According to the Mayor, pedestrian alerts connect to a vehicle’s turn signals and make an audible alert to warn pedestrians, cyclists and other street users of the driver’s plan to turn. DCAS will retrofit all of the roughly 4,000 existing civilian City fleet trucks with pedestrian alerts by June 2029.

Under Executive Order 19, any contract for the purchase or lease of a non-emergency municipal fleet vehicle will require intelligent speed assistance technology. In June, DCAS completed the 1,000th City vehicle retrofit with the speed-limiting technology and will work to retrofit additional vehicles as feasible.

DCAS manages the intelligent speed assistance on City vehicles through the Fleet Office of Real Time Tracking (FORT).  Via FORT, DCAS monitors the movements of over 29,000 vehicles and manages the speed limit maps, tracking and controls required for intelligent speed assistance technology.

 

Coming Up

New York State

Wednesday, July 29th  

Metropolitan Transportation Association Board meeting, 

2 Broadway – 20th Floor – MTA Board Room, New York, 9 a.m.

New York City

*There are currently no meetings at the city level at the time of this publication*