That number is up from 21 last July. New York City’s waitlist alone has surged to over 17,000 — a tenfold increase in less than a year.
From NYFocus.com, by Melissa Manno, image key- red counties are closed, green counties are still open
More than half of New York counties have stopped enrolling eligible families in the state’s child care voucher program as of mid-March amid a funding crisis that has persisted for over a year, new data shows.
Thirty-four counties and New York City have had to close applications or enrollment for the program, which subsidizes nearly the entire cost of private child care for low- and middle-income families. Twenty-one of them are keeping waitlists; New York City’s alone has grown to over 17,000 families — a more than 1,000 percent increase since last July.
And as Governor Kathy Hochul and state legislators enter final budget negotiations, local officials and advocates say that the proposals on the table — to add $1.2 billion to help counties reduce waitlists and resume enrollment — will not come close to clearing the growing statewide backlog.
The decades-old program, which is funded mostly by the federal and state governments, was originally intended to help welfare recipients afford child care so they could enter the workforce. But as the cost of child care has skyrocketed, eligibility and demand have expanded, and state funds haven’t kept pace.
The new data makes clear that the funding shortfall at the center of last year’s budget negotiations, which New York Focus first reported, has only worsened. Voucher enrollment in sixteen counties has remained closed since at least July, when the state Office of Children and Family Services first started publishing the data.
All counties have maintained enrollment for families who are required to receive it under state law, including those who receive other forms of cash assistance, though some county officials have warned those funds are running low, too.
Correction: April 3, 2026 — Allegany County has been removed from a count of counties that have closed enrollment for the child care voucher program. According to survey results published by the Office of Children and Family Services, the county reported that it was not taking new non-guaranteed cases as of March, but after publication, Social Services Commissioner Donald Horan said that the county was in fact taking such cases.
Additionally, this story and its headline have been updated to clarify that some counties that have closed enrollment are still accepting applications for the program.
READ FULL ARTICLE at NYFocus.com with full interactive map of NYS county childcare application status
