« Critical Indicator “NA” Not Available ñò Directional Target * None
Goal 1c Provide access to Medicaid public health insurance coverage for all eligible children and adults.
In May 2020, the most recent State data available, 3.5 million New York City residents were enrolled in Medicaid, which
includes 1.5 million enrolled in Medicaid administered by HRA pursuant to State rules and another 2.0 million enrolled
in Medicaid through the New York State Health Care Exchange (the Exchange). Because of the on-going transition to
complete State direct administration of Medicaid, which began with New York’s implementation of the Affordable Care
Act (ACA), the number of Medicaid-only enrollees administered by HRA was 10.8 percent lower than in the previous year.
Overall enrollment in the portion of the Medicaid program administered HRA, which includes persons enrolled through
Cash Assistance and SSI, decreased by 3.3 percent. Application timeliness decreased by 13 percentage points due largely
to the transitioning of staff to working remotely from home to process cases during the COVID-19 pandemic; the new
remote systems helped address timeliness.
Page 178 | MAYOR’S MANAGEMENT REPORT
Performance Indicators
Actual Target Trend
FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY20 FY21 5-Year
Desired
Direction
« Medicaid enrollees administered by HRA (000) 2,085.7 1,869.5 1,725.5 1,593.5 1,541.2 * * Down *
– Medicaid-only enrollees administered by HRA (000) 1,321.2 1,109.9 979.5 874.9 780.6 * * Down *
« Application timeliness rate for Medicaid administered by HRA
(%) 92.1% 95.6% 95.8% 93.5% 80.5% 99.4% 99.4% Down Up
« Critical Indicator “NA” Not Available ñò Directional Target * None
SERVICE 2 Increase financial independence and upward mobility out of poverty through employment,
education, skills enhancement, job search, job placement, wellness services and other
supports.
Goal 2a Increase the proportion of cash assistance recipients who obtain and retain paid employment.
HRA Employment Services helps CA applicants, recipients and non-custodial parent child support clients obtain and retain
employment. HRA provides services through contracts, training and education referrals and placement in transitional
subsidized jobs in the public and private sectors. HRA programs focus on the individual needs of clients, providing
assessments and specialized services, including programs for youth and sector-specific training. In Fiscal 2020, HRA helped
32,100 clients obtain jobs, 19.6 percent fewer than during Fiscal 2019. In the first three quarters of the fiscal year, HRA
placed approximately the same number of clients into jobs compared to the prior fiscal year. In April 2020, HRA suspended
in-person employment programs in compliance with New York State’s stay-at-home order which, coupled with reduced
job opportunities, significantly impacted the Agency’s ability to connect clients with employment.
During the last three months of Fiscal 2020, as businesses closed due to COVID-19, more clients who had previously
obtained employment returned to HRA for assistance. In Fiscal 2020, 70.7 percent of clients who obtained a job either
retained it or did not return to CA after 180 days, 3.4 percentage points lower than in Fiscal 2019, and 61.6 percent of
employed clients either retained their jobs or did not return to CA after 12 months, 3.1 percentage points lower than in
Fiscal 2019. HRA’s Employment Services vendors continue to assist clients to help them return to the labor force if they lose
their job within a year of employment.
HRA’s redesigned approach to employment services emphasizes access to training and education, literacy programs,
community service, and other training consistent with the Mayor’s Jobs for New Yorkers Task Force recommendations. This
approach is intended to help clients secure better jobs. Periodically, each client’s participation in the program is reassessed to
determine the best services to meet their career goals. HRA was correcting a technical issue with the reassessment process
for a portion of clients in training and education activities to enable complete data reporting when, due to COVID-19, HRA
paused in-person training and education activities. As a result, complete data on training and education is not available
for Fiscal 2020.
Performance Indicators
Actual Target Trend
FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY20 FY21 5-Year
Desired
Direction
« Clients whom HRA helped obtain employment (000) 47.0 44.9 39.8 39.9 32.1 ñ ñ Down Up
« HRA clients who obtained employment, and maintained
employment or did not return to CA for 180 days (city fiscal yearto-date average) (%) 73.3% 73.1% 73.8% 74.1% 70.7% 80.0% 80.0% Neutral Up
HRA clients who obtained employment, and maintained employment or did not return to CA for 12 months (city fiscal year-todate average) (%) 63.5% 63.4% 63.3% 64.7% 61.6% * * Neutral Up
« Safety Net Assistance (SNA) cases engaged in training or education in accordance with New York City guidelines (%) 25.5% 27.0% 29.9% 28.0% NA ñ ñ NA Up
« Family cases engaged in training or education in accordance
with New York City guidelines (%) 27.4% 26.3% 28.3% 29.0% NA ñ ñ NA Up
« Cash assistance family cases participating in work or workrelated activities per federal guidelines (official federal fiscal
year-to-date average) (%) 33.4% 27.3% 25.5% 22.1% NA 34.0% 34.0% NA Up
« Critical Indicator “NA” Not Available ñò Directional Target * None
HUMAN RESOURCES ADMINISTRATION | Page 179
Goal 2b Provide wellness, rehabilitation and employment services to cash assistance recipients with special needs
to assist them to become healthy enough to work, or to obtain federal disability benefits if they are
unable to work.
HRA’s Wellness, Comprehensive Assessment, Rehabilitation and Employment program (WeCARE) supports CA clients with
barriers to employment to achieve self-sufficiency in the workforce and helps those who have disabilities apply for federal
disability assistance. As of June 2020, there were 42,608 recipients participating in the WeCARE program, 8.1 percent
more than in June 2019. The increase is a combination of a pause of in-person appointments due to COVID-19, and more
referrals as CA enrollment increased due to the economic impacts of the pandemic. During Fiscal 2020, there were 2,612
federal disability awards granted to clients assisted by WeCARE, 18.7 percent fewer than in Fiscal 2019. This is due in part
to fewer applications being filed as existing contracts expired and the new vendors were phased in from November 2018
to February 2019, and delays in federal processing of applications that can regularly take 12 months or longer.
Performance Indicators
Actual Target Trend
FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY20 FY21 5-Year
Desired
Direction
Total WeCARE recipients 49,637 38,016 35,164 39,433 42,608 * * Down *
« Number of WeCARE federal disability awards 3,227 3,613 3,565 3,214 2,612 * * Down *
« Critical Indicator “NA” Not Available ñò Directional Target * None
Goal 2c Provide access to child support services for eligible parents and their children.
New York Family Court stopped accepting new filings for child support in March 2020, leading to a decrease in new child
support orders and an overall decline in the number of cases with active support orders. The number of new child support
orders obtained decreased by 29.9 percent compared to Fiscal 2019, and the number of cases with active support orders
decreased by 4.8 percent.
While the percent of child support cases with orders of support remained stable, child support collections on behalf of
custodial parents and their children increased by $30.3 million, or 3.9 percent. The percentage of support cases with active
orders receiving current payments increased by 1.0 percentage point.
Performance Indicators
Actual Target Trend
FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY20 FY21 5-Year
Desired
Direction
Total new child support orders obtained 19,579 18,645 14,832 12,758 8,948 * * Down Up
Total child support cases with active orders (end of period) 282,451 282,013 269,761 261,073 248,488 * * Down Up
« Child support cases with orders of support (%) 76.7% 79.4% 79.8% 79.2% 79.0% 80.0% 80.0% Neutral Up
Child support collected ($000,000) $762.1 $780.9 $763.9 $780.8 $811.1 $784.4 $784.4 Neutral Up
« Support cases with active orders receiving current payments
(%) 59.7% 59.7% 59.8% 60.5% 61.5% ñ ñ Neutral Up
« Critical Indicator “NA” Not Available ñò Directional Target * None
SERVICE 3 Reduce homelessness among children and adults.
Goal 3a Provide homelessness prevention benefits and services to eligible children and adults.
HRA provides homelessness prevention assistance to families and individuals with housing emergencies and to those seeking
shelter. HRA offers access to emergency rental arrears payments and ongoing rental assistance at job centers, Housing
Courts, and DHS shelter intake and HomeBase locations. HRA exceeded its 85 percent target for shelter avoidance for all
clients who received homelessness prevention services through its HomeBase contracts. The number of single adults who
avoided entering shelter within the 12 months following receipt of services remained largely stable; however, this metric still
exceeded the target by more than 4.7 percentage points. The rates for adult families and families with children remained
stable, exceeding the target by nearly 10 percentage points.
Page 180 | MAYOR’S MANAGEMENT REPORT
In response to the COVID-19 emergency, evictions were suspended in March 2020 by a New York State moratorium. The
number of requests submitted to HRA’s Rent Arrears Unit (RAU) for one-time, emergency rental assistance to prevent
evictions decreased 15.7 percent during Fiscal 2020, and the percentage of emergency assistance requests approved
decreased by 5.8 percentage points. There was a significant drop in emergency assistance requests after COVID-19 hit in
mid-March 2020, when average weekly requests fell by 62.5 percent.
HRA’s Office of Civil Justice continues to oversee implementation of the City’s Universal Access to Counsel Law, the nation’s
first law to ensure access to legal services for every tenant facing eviction in court. Full implementation is expected by Fiscal
In Fiscal 2020, HRA assisted households with legal services for City tenants in need, connecting 24,109 households
with legal assistance, a decline of 25.1 percent compared to the prior year. Prior to March 2020, HRA assisted a monthly
average of 2,534 cases, consistent with the prior year, but from April through June 2020, the monthly average declined
to 435 cases when the eviction moratorium was in effect.
Performance Indicators
Actual Target Trend
FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY20 FY21 5-Year
Desired
Direction
« Clients successfully diverted at PATH from entering a homeless
shelter (%) NA 13.4% 12.3% 13.0% 12.0% * * NA *
« Adults receiving preventive services who did not enter the
shelter system (%) 91.4% 92.6% 92.8% 90.8% 89.7% 85.0% 85.0% Neutral Up
« Adult families receiving preventive services who did not enter
the shelter system (%) 93.6% 95.3% 96.1% 95.2% 94.5% 85.0% 85.0% Neutral Up
« Families with children receiving preventive services who did
not enter the shelter system (%) 93.9% 94.1% 93.4% 93.0% 93.3% 85.0% 85.0% Neutral Up
Rent Assistance Unit Emergency Assistance Requests Approved
(%) 67.6% 66.7% 75.1% 78.0% 72.2% * * Up *
Requests for Emergency Assistance at the Rental Assistance Unit 82,306 79,624 77,605 77,342 65,234 * * Down *
Low-income cases facing eviction and homelessness who were
assisted with legal services in Housing Court 11,837 16,702 25,156 32,171 24,109 * * Up *
« Critical Indicator “NA” Not Available ñò Directional Target * None
Goal 3b Provide safe and appropriate services in shelter and in the community to survivors of domestic violence.
HRA assists individuals and families who are domestic violence (DV) survivors and require DV services within the community
or placement in an emergency DV shelter. In Fiscal 2020, the percent of DV-eligible families at DHS Prevention Assistance
and Temporary Housing intake center (PATH) entering an HRA DV shelter was 55.2 percent, 18.2 percentage points higher
than the previous period due to increased focus on timely vacancy control, a process by which staff closely monitor shelter
exits and quickly fill vacant units. This enabled HRA to provide shelter to more families as the need arose. Families who
cannot enter an emergency DV shelter are referred to a Department of homeless Services shelter, where they also receive
targeted services for domestic violence.
For Fiscal 2020, there was a decrease of 16.4 percent in the number of clients receiving non-residential domestic violence
services from the prior period. Until the onset of the COVID pandemic, the caseload throughout Fiscal 2020 was largely
stable. Many providers experienced a significant change in their average monthly caseloads as they transitioned to remote
counseling and case management activities. Many focused on maintaining their existing client caseload as referrals within
the community and from external entities fell during the peak of the COVID pandemic. There has been an increase as the
Courts and other community resources have begun to open and the upward trend is expected to continue in Fiscal 2021.
HUMAN RESOURCES ADMINISTRATION | Page 181
Performance Indicators
Actual Target Trend
FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY20 FY21 5-Year
Desired
Direction
« Eligible families seeking shelter at Prevention Assistance and
Temporary Housing (PATH) who entered HRA’s domestic violence
Human services contract budget ($000,000) $455.8 $486.8 $566.5 $680.7 $757.0 $756.6 $770.9 Up
¹Actual financial amounts for the current fiscal year are not yet final. Final fiscal year actuals, from the Comptroller’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, will be reported
in the next PMMR. Refer to the “Indicator Definitions” at nyc.gov/mmr for details. ²Authorized Budget Level ³Expenditures include all funds “NA” - Not Available * None
HUMAN RESOURCES ADMINISTRATION | Page 185
SPENDING AND BUDGET INFORMATION
Where possible, the relationship between an agency’s goals and its expenditures and planned resources, by budgetary unit
of appropriation (UA), is shown in the ‘Applicable MMR Goals’ column. Each relationship is not necessarily exhaustive or
exclusive. Any one goal may be connected to multiple UAs, and any UA may be connected to multiple goals.