Taylor Loreman knows how important government subsidies are to making childcare work — the daycare center she runs in upstate Willsboro lost two families when the vouchers stopped during a budget crunch earlier this year.
One mother had to work from home for three months while also minding her child. Another family relied on relatives for part of the week. Loreman, who took over The Clubhouse Day Care Center in 2023, was suddenly faced with a revenue shortfall.
“If we make our rates go up any higher, it's gonna be an even harder struggle on our parents, and then it's a harder struggle on us just keeping things afloat,” she said. “There are parents that are making OK money, but they're still not making it work.”
More than a million New Yorkers have left the state since 2010, in part because of the high cost of living. A new podcast series by WNYC and Gothamist called "New York State of Unaffordability" examines why.
The four-part series looks at some of the major economic hardships and highlights the different approaches of Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and her Republican challenger, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman.
One big squeeze for families is the cost of childcare: an average of $35,000 for two children, according to the Empire State Campaign for Childcare, an advocacy group.
Hochul, who became governor in 2021, and is seeking a second full term, says she wants to put the state on the path to truly universal childcare. She partnered with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to fund slots for 2-year-olds, which allowed 2,000 kids to start care this fall.
An even bigger step was to expand the Child Care Assistance Program, or CCAP, which provides vouchers to families around the state who meet certain income requirements. Hochul raised the income thresholds to open the program to more people. She increased the CCAP’s budget, but demand soon outstripped the available funding.
The shortfall prompted the problems at The Clubhouse and affected thousands of families around the state. The governor has spent the last several months trying to fix the problem.
“Whether you live in New York City or Buffalo, we're making sure that families get the affordable childcare that they need,” Hochul said recently. “We're not going to stop until every single parent can get the care that they need and they can afford.”
Blakeman, the Nassau County executive, says subsidies should be reserved for working parents and has called universal childcare a waste of taxpayer money.
“I would give tax credits to people so it only went to working people who had tax returns who could prove that they're working, rather than giving it to people who want to cart their kids off to childcare, don't work, sit on the couch like a lazy-ass and watch 'The View' every day,” he said in an interview for the podcast series.
The CCAP funding shortage placed nearly 30,000 families on a waitlist for care in New York City. Three-dozen counties froze enrollment or stopped renewing families that were approved, forcing caregivers to change their work arrangements, dig deeper into their pockets or scramble to find other care.
Empire State Campaign for Child Care Manager Shoshana Hershkowitz said the program was oversubscribed because Hochul expanded eligibility — a family of four earning up to $117,000 a year can sign up for vouchers — but didn’t commit enough funding to meet the demand.
The problem is more pronounced in rural areas like Willsboro, which sits between Lake Champlain and the Adirondack Mountains, Hershkowitz said.
“In a more rural area, there is going to be more family childcare, fewer centers, and longer travel,” she said. “If you're in a place like in Essex County, you'll probably have more folks within the $117,000 [income threshold] than you will in Suffolk County, where I am. But those families' needs are all still the same.”
Hochul has increased funding for CCAP this year by $3 billion. Families are moving off the city’s waitlist, and 17 counties that froze enrollment over the last 12 months have recently started approving vouchers again.
Blakeman said the hiccups show that the program should be more targeted and better administered. He hasn’t offered a specific counter-proposal.
Loreman, in Willsboro said the benefits of high-quality care for child development are worth public investment.
“We should be funded just like a school is,” she said. “We are truly teaching children every basic life skill, plus learning how to share.”
