The Child Poverty Reduction Advisory Council met in Albany on Wednesday. The group has been tasked with drafting recommendations for Gov. Kathy Hochul on how child poverty in New York can be cut in half by 2031.
With just four months to go until the council is expected to issue those recommendations, the meeting focused on using what the group has learned so far to identify which policy proposals can do the most good under budgetary and political constraints.
After the meeting, Kate Breslin, president and CEO of the Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy, said as the process of narrowing the list of proposals is winding down, the picture is growing more clear.
“The council came to some pretty clear consensus around recommendations for the governor,” she said.
She explained the group has zeroed in on three key areas: Tax credits, benefits and housing assistance.
"There’s a significant interest in making sure the child tax credit is available to the lowest income New Yorkers, and that we increase the amount,” she said.
As far as benefits, Breslin said bolstering them for families is a top priority.
“They haven’t been increased in decades,” she said.
Along with increasing access to housing assistance, she said the objective is to craft policies that will benefit a large swath of New Yorkers.
“Both policies that get to the very lowest income New Yorkers who are really struggling, and say the tax credit, which gets to some more middle income New Yorkers,” she said.
Barbara Guinn, commissioner of the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, told Spectrum News 1 the council cultivated a wide range of proposals, and these are the ones considered most viable.
“We want to invest what we think will make the most difference for families,” she said.
The next step is fleshing out these proposals into full fledged recommendations.
“Over the next two months we’ll be drafting that package, and then we’ll come together with the full advisory membership to vote,” she said.
That's important because Breslin points out that with time ticking down to 2031, time is of the essence.
“We’re already almost three years in, so this has to be the year where we actually take some intentional steps, and the math is becoming more clear,” she said.
The council will continue to meet throughout the process of drafting their recommendations, and a vote on issuing the final report is scheduled for Dec. 18. They say they do hope to see some items included in next year's budget.