New York City Spent Approximately $81,000 PER PERSON on Services for the Homeless Last Year
Screencap of YouTube video.
New York City’s spending on homelessness reached astonishing levels last year, with the city shelling out roughly $81,000 per unsheltered resident, according to a new report from the state comptroller. Overall, the city’s homeless services cost taxpayers around $368 million.
Despite this massive investment, the number of people living on the streets continues to climb. The comptroller’s report shows a 26% increase in New York City’s unsheltered homeless population over the past six years, rising from 3,588 in fiscal year 2019 to 4,505 in fiscal year 2025.
The majority of the city’s spending goes through the Department of Homeless Services’ “Street Homeless Solutions” division, which has seen its budget more than triple since 2019, when it spent $102 million — roughly $28,000 per unsheltered person at the time. By 2025, the per-person cost had grown to about $81,228, nearly matching the city’s median household income.
This is EXACTLY why Los Angeles doesn’t take its homeless crisis seriously. @adamcarolla 🎯🎯🎯 pic.twitter.com/ZbsSfHggTX
— The Adam Carolla Show (@AdamCarollaShow) March 16, 2026
Unsheltered homeless people are those who live primarily on the streets, as opposed to residents in shelters or transitional housing programs.
The report raises questions about how such high levels of spending have failed to significantly reduce homelessness. Critics argue that homelessness has become an industry in itself, with large budgets and salaries for administrators but little measurable progress.
Comedian and podcaster Adam Carolla has highlighted a similar issue in Los Angeles, noting that when addiction specialist Dr. Drew Pinsky offered free services to the city, the proposal was rejected by city officials. Carolla argued that the system benefits from the continuation of the problem, creating incentives for bureaucracies rather than solutions.
The numbers suggest a need to rethink how the city approaches homelessness, especially when the per-person cost rivals the income of a typical household in New York City.
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