{"id":25395,"date":"2025-12-12T03:02:24","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T08:02:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/multi.nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/inside-nycs-overstretched-social-services-agency\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T03:02:24","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T08:02:24","slug":"inside-nycs-overstretched-social-services-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/inside-nycs-overstretched-social-services-agency\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside NYC\u2019s Overstretched Social Services Agency"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"ltr\"><span class=\"inlinehead\">After 15 years<\/span> working for New York City, a social services employee found himself carrying his laptop to choir rehearsals at night, obligated to work overtime for the first time in his career.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">He was eventually removed from the choir last year since he repeatedly worked during practices. \u201cI didn\u2019t want overtime, but they said we had no option,\u201d he shared.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Another Brooklyn-based eligibility specialist processing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (<span class=\"caps\">SNAP<\/span>) applications noted that many coworkers retired or quit during the pandemic, and hiring has lagged. Overtime has become frequent as a result.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cThe city needs enough staff to handle these new cases,\u201d said the specialist, who has worked at the agency for 13 years. Both staffers spoke anonymously about work conditions.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Their accounts illustrate the pressure at the city\u2019s Department of Social Services (<span class=\"caps\">DSS<\/span>), where staff reductions have led to rising overtime as remaining workers handle a flood of benefit applications.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The agency has had a series of challenges: increased caseloads from the pandemic, an influx of migrants requesting asylum, housing issues, and\u00a0<a href='https:\/\/robinhood.org\/news\/robin-hood-annual-poverty-tracker-report-shows-25-overall-poverty-rate-in-new-york-city-climbing-beyond-record-highs-observed-in-2022\/' target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">growing poverty<\/a>. To complicate matters, it must also soon implement new Trump-era work requirements for\u00a0<span class=\"caps\">SNAP<\/span>\u00a0\u2014 a\u00a0<a href='https:\/\/nysfocus.com\/2025\/11\/10\/trump-counties-snap-work-rules'>significant challenge for staff<\/a> tasked with tracking compliance and assisting recipients with employment.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">But there aren\u2019t enough staff to do the job. Almost 12 percent of roles at\u00a0<span class=\"caps\">DSS<\/span>\u00a0remain unfilled; in October, out of almost 11,000 funded positions, the agency had 1,455 vacancies, making it\u00a0<a href='https:\/\/comptroller.nyc.gov\/services\/for-the-public\/nyc-agency-staffing-dashboard\/top-15-agencies-by-vacancies\/' target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">one of the city&#8217;s most understaffed<\/a> departments.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Consequently, existing staff have been stretched further. Overtime costs at the Human Resources Administration \u2014 the division of Social Services responsible for benefits \u2014 have more than tripled since 2014, rising from less than $22 million up to $75 million in the latest fiscal year. (Spending peaked in 2024 at $110 million.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After 15 years working for New York City, a social services employee found himself carrying his laptop to choir rehearsals at night, obligated to work overtime for the first time in his career. He was eventually removed from the choir last year since he repeatedly worked during practices. \u201cI didn\u2019t want overtime, but they said [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5893,"featured_media":25396,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v23.4 (Yoast SEO v26.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Inside NYC\u2019s Overstretched Social Services Agency - Brooklyn News and Events<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/inside-nycs-overstretched-social-services-agency\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Inside NYC\u2019s Overstretched Social Services Agency\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After 15 years working for New York City, a social services employee found himself carrying his laptop to choir rehearsals at night, obligated to work overtime for the first time in his career. He was eventually removed from the choir last year since he repeatedly worked during practices. \u201cI didn\u2019t want overtime, but they said [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/inside-nycs-overstretched-social-services-agency\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Brooklyn News and Events\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-12T08:02:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/12\/HRA-DSS-OT.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1230\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"819\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jon Freeman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jon Freeman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/inside-nycs-overstretched-social-services-agency\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/inside-nycs-overstretched-social-services-agency\/\",\"name\":\"Inside NYC\u2019s Overstretched Social Services Agency - Brooklyn News and Events\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/inside-nycs-overstretched-social-services-agency\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/inside-nycs-overstretched-social-services-agency\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/12\/HRA-DSS-OT.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-12T08:02:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/#\/schema\/person\/1130e29b270d189bf1efcbd308ea4431\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/inside-nycs-overstretched-social-services-agency\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/inside-nycs-overstretched-social-services-agency\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/inside-nycs-overstretched-social-services-agency\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/12\/HRA-DSS-OT.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/12\/HRA-DSS-OT.webp\",\"width\":1230,\"height\":819},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/inside-nycs-overstretched-social-services-agency\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Inside NYC\u2019s Overstretched Social Services Agency\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/\",\"name\":\"Brooklyn News and Events\",\"description\":\"For What&#039;s Buzzin&#039; 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