Ahead of Mayoral Election, New Communities Speak Survey Reveals Severity of New York City’s Affordability Crisis

NEW YORK, NY, October 29, 2025 — As New York City prepares to elect its next mayor, new survey data from Columbia University’s Communities Speak project underscores the severity of the city’s affordability crisis, especially for families with young children. This new research, released today by Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) and SIPA’s Institute of Global Politics (IGP), shows that the city’s fragile childcare system, temporarily stabilized by pandemic-era federal aid, has once again left tens of thousands of families struggling.

Drawing on surveys conducted between 2021 and 2025, the Communities Speak report provides the most comprehensive dataset to date on the interconnected challenges of childcare, housing, and food insecurity across more than 30 New York City neighborhoods. Conducted in English, Spanish, Mandarin, and French, the surveys reached families often excluded from research, offering both longitudinal and neighborhood-level insights into the lived experiences of families across the five boroughs.

The report’s release comes amid heightened debate about affordability in the mayoral campaign, with the presence of childcare deserts emerging as a defining issue. The included recommendations call for expanded city and state funding for childcare, targeted neighborhood-level interventions, and stronger partnerships with community organizations to ensure families can access existing resources.

“These data make clear that New York’s childcare crisis is not an isolated challenge—it is at the heart of the city’s affordability crisis,” said Ester R. Fuchs, professor of international and public affairs at Columbia SIPA and principal investigator of Communities Speak. “The collapse of pandemic-era relief exposed deep structural weaknesses in the city’s childcare system. Without sustained government investment and targeted policies by the next mayor, families will continue to suffer not only from a lack of affordable childcare but also from all the associated problems such as housing and food insecurity.”

Key findings from the 2025 survey results include:

• Childcare affordability crisis: In 2024, 43 percent of families with young children reported being unable to afford childcare—nearly matching pre-COVID-19 peak levels. By spring 2025, affordability challenges persisted for 29 percent of families.
• Childcare assistance sources: Families reported a significantly higher reliance on family and friends than government agencies for childcare assistance (52 percent versus 20 percent).
• Neighborhood disparities: In Ridgewood, Queens, almost half (43 percent) of all families with young children reported unaffordable childcare in their area, compared with 14 percent in Greenwich Village, showing vast disparities among neighborhoods and boroughs. All Bronx neighborhoods, for example, reported at least one in four families struggling.
• Racial inequities: Hispanic and Black respondents with young children experienced more than double the level of food insecurity experienced by White respondents with young children; 42 percent of Hispanic and 35 percent of Black families, respectively, experienced food insecurity, compared with 10 percent of White respondents.
• Housing hardships: Non-English-speaking households reported severe housing insecurity at twice the rate of English-speaking households, with families from the Bronx reporting the highest level of rent hardship among the city’s boroughs. More than a third (36 percent) of households with a disabled member reported rent hardship, compared with 20 percent of households without.

Keren Yarhi-Milo, dean of Columbia SIPA and founding director of IGP, emphasized the importance of leveraging survey data to inform policy at the local level. “At SIPA, our mission is to produce evidence-based research that speaks directly to policymakers and the public, whether in Nairobi or New York City,” she said. “The Communities Speak survey provides an actionable roadmap for the next mayor, and its findings are a wake-up call that affordable childcare, stable housing, and food security are essential pillars of a thriving and equitable city,” she observed.

Today at Columbia SIPA, policymakers, community leaders, and researchers will gather for an in-person event from 5-7 p.m. to discuss the findings of the Communities Speak project and their implications for New York City’s future. You can join the conversation via livestream. 

About Communities Speak: Communities Speak is a Columbia University research initiative housed at Columbia SIPA that works with community-based organizations across New York City to collect timely, granular data on the challenges families face. The project provides policymakers and advocates with reliable, neighborhood-level evidence to design more equitable public policies. Communities Speak is supported by a grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies. To learn more, visit their website.

About Columbia School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA): Columbia SIPA is a leading school of global policy, training the next generation of leaders to confront the world’s most pressing challenges.

About The Institute of Global Politics (IGP): The Institute of Global Politics at SIPA bridges scholarship and practice, convening policymakers, practitioners, and scholars to advance evidence-based solutions to urgent global and local issues.