The ghosts of pollution past and specter of pollution future both lurk over the state’s waterways.

Efforts to reform round the clock in-home care of severely disabled New Yorkers have stalled. It doesn’t have to be like that.

This report by Dr. Amanda Page-Hoongrajok lays out how countercyclical fiscal policy, meaning a government using its own spending and taxation power to smooth out business cycle fluctuations, is a powerful tool in a downturn.

A new book describes the clash between upper-class philanthropy and working-class militancy following the horrific Triangle Shirtwaist Fire.

In communities around the globe, World Trade Center artifacts have become memorials. This is the story of one of them.

The Center for New York City Affairs’ Universal Child Care Cost Model is a dynamic tool to evaluate the total costs and phases of implementation toward a fully universal system for children ages six weeks to five years old. It can be modified to guide policy design as New York City and State move forward on their historic investment in child care.

CNYCA's six year statistical survey monitoring New York City's child welfare system

Years after its closing, the proud legacy of St. Vincent’s Hospital endures.

In a just world, families wouldn’t have to separate to get the services they need.

Another tale of two cities: Why New York’s delivery worker pay standard has worked better than Seattle’s.

Our annual selection of books to bring to the lake, the beach, or the shaded park bench.

This memo outlines the two most critical program under-funded in the State budget in need of City investment. Recognizing that the City also faces existing revenue constraints, this memo outlines several scenarios so that policymakers can make headway on these initiatives even if they cannot be fully funded in this budget. This memo also provides cost estimates, and their underlying assumptions and methodology, for both priorities.

It’s time to divorce family support services from New York’s family policing apparatus.

At a time of suffering and despair, a great New York hospital rose to the occasion. 

Local officials have far more bargaining power than Big Tech wants them to believe.

They do the work that makes everything else in our economy possible. This is their story.

Why more and more moderate-income New Yorkers are using BNPL to meet everyday expenses.

Many current college-bound students are focused on career-readiness. But there are disquieting jobs trends for recent grads.

A new multi-lingual guide hopes to help families and teachers of students who've experienced the disruptions and stresses of forced migration.

A proposed Federal rule would deny housing assistance to nearly 80,000 families that include people lacking qualifying immigration status.

How closing an ignoble chapter of incarceration history can also environmentally benefit New York City.

Three years after its passage, exactly how New York State's cumulative impacts law will work is still taking shape.

A rent freeze won't improve housing affordability and could worsen living conditions.

This budget brief details an estimate of the City budget cost to provide salary parity for the nonprofit human services workforce.

Federal budget decisions put lower-income seniors and the Social Security system itself on shakier ground.

Managing homelessness and welfare policy during the second Trump presidency.

This fact sheet updates The Fiscal Flow between New York City and Albany, a December 2025 report coauthored by the Institute for State & Local Governance at the City University of New York and the Center for New York City Affairs at The New School, that estimated the “fiscal flow” between the city and state.

It's a global sports event that also needs to think, and act, locally.

Short-term, making Maimonides Medical Center a public hospital is a lifesaver. Long-term, the prognosis is cloudier.

A steadfast advocate for inmates at Rikers Island is becoming New York City's correction commissioner.

Solving housing affordability requires both federal ambition and local policy precision.

Chinatown; Little Italy; Russian Brighton Beach: New York has long had ethnic neighborhoods. But Koreatown is different. Why?

The existing child care system rests on a rickety financial foundation that penalizes its workers. That needs to change, right away.

Cities in both red and blue states face hard times. There's a time-tested, bi-partisan way for Washington to help them.

The new mayor has promised to govern audaciously. Here's an issue that sure fits the bill.

Just how will this new plan shave a promised $1 billion a year off current costs? As usual, the devil may be lurking in the details.

In this report, the Center for New York City Affairs provides insight on the challenges incoming Mayor Mamdani, Governor Kathy Hochul, and the City and State legislative branches face at the outset of 2026.

This fact sheet updates The Fiscal Flow between New York City and Albany, a December 2025 report coauthored by the Institute for State & Local Governance at the City University of New York and the Center for New York City Affairs at The New School, that estimated the “fiscal flow” between the city and state.

A year-end message from the executive director of the Center for New York City Affairs at The New School.

The new mayor can get the ball rolling by clearing a waitlist of families eligible for child care.

Featuring the latest wide-ranging writings of New School faculty, staff, and alums.

Often, a new history argues, the costs to New Yorkers of corporate welfare have far exceeded any benefits.

This report centers the experiences and perspectives of people who own, direct, or work in the over 10,000 licensed ECE programs in New York City, which collectively have the capacity to serve 468,000 children daily, and outlines key findings and policy recommendations.

While crucial, new privately built housing is not nearly enough. We also need publicly funded, democratically controlled social housing.

Federal monitoring of community organizations and political protest? We've seen this movie before, and it doesn't end well.

A true measurement of the costs of living shows just how far millions of New Yorkers are from achieving economic security.

A key New York child welfare leader says minor tweaks won't fix systemic flaws.

This brief examines economic trends in New York City since 2019 (pre-pandemic) and addresses the minimum wage and millionaire tax proposals.

What the continuing hollowing out of the US Department of Education and the fine print in the Big Beautiful Bill Act mean for current and future college students.

Recriminations and uncertainty continue to plague a reform plan that promised to save money and promote efficiency.

Is limiting the City Council's role in housing policymaking a good idea?

An appreciation of a panoramic history of New York City and its incomparable author.

A decade's worth of Urban Matters maps where we've been and suggests the way forward.

How innovative financing has enabled dramatic improvements to the once-deteriorating Baychester Houses development.

The isolation and alienation so many faced during Covid-19 are all too familiar to families entangled in the child protective system.

Closing opportunity gaps for students matters far more than vague language about inclusion.

Federal officials are abandoning a proven strategy of reducing gun violence. Local leaders need to close the breach.

Presenting a 360-degree view of the anxiety and trauma that accompanies families being torn apart.

More evictions. Greater homelessness. Sidelined affordable housing projects and public housing improvements. That's what to expect from the Congressional budget now approaching approval.

It's summertime, and the reading is meaty.

A crazy-quilt system needlessly sows anxiety and confusion for parents, child care providers, and early childhood education policymakers.

This report proposes New York City collecting payments from wealthy hospitals and universities that are exempt from the local property tax as an alternative or interim step towards generating revenue.

Some arguments for a democratically controlled, publicly chartered bank, established to serve the common good.

The good news: Benefits will go up from disgracefully low levels. The bad news: The system's underlying finances remain insecure and unfair.

Youthful grace, discipline, and self-discovery flourish with professional guidance and community encouragement.

A critical and reliable element of the nation's retirement system is being starved for resources and publicly demeaned.

CNYCA's six year statistical survey monitoring New York City's child welfare system

An effort to rein in Medicaid spending is unintentionally saddling low-wage workers with either inadequate or unaffordable health insurance.

What's the outlook for federal higher education loans and scholarships? Bottom line: there's a lot to worry about.

There's a mysterious, but strong, subterranean connection between nurturing our gardens, and our democracy.

Strengthening grassroots groups that families trust can be the smart and proactive alternative to over-reliance on the child welfare system.

With economic storm clouds brewing, now's the time to repair a badly leaky system.

It's time to get serious about the success of the nation's largest organic waste collection program.

City officials want to use tax breaks to lure out-of-state employers to commercial buildings struggling with vacancies.

We take a hard look at Governor Hochul's proposed inflation refund credit.

Composting enriches the soil and enriches young lives, too.

First-hand recollections from the men and women who faced uncertainty and danger so that the rest of us might live.

Despite a legal right to counsel, over a third of New York City tenants appearing in housing court still don't have lawyers.

Life in one Rikers Island facility can seem like a citywide shoplifters' convention.

Emphasizing single-family zoning and protecting tenants' rights can get in the way of increasing the supply of housing.

This report documents profound pay inequities in the nonprofit human service sector, traces their historical roots, and provides a blueprint for the City to establish salary parity for its contracted human services workforce.

A little more housing in every neighborhood is a start but only a start.

The motto: Care, custody, and control. Translation: I don't care, you're in custody, I'm in control.

This report outlines an array of fiscal policy challenges in January 2025 and suggests ways to meet them.