NYC NOW - New York State of Unaffordability Part 1: Why Childcare Is a Flashpoint in This Year's Governor Race

Episode Date: October 7, 2026

In a small daycare center in Upstate New York, families are pulling their kids out after the state assistance that made childcare affordable ran dry. It's happening in dozens of counties across New York, and it's part of a bigger fight over the cost of living that's at the center of this year's race for governor. Kathy Hochul wants to expand childcare subsidies, while challenger Bruce Blakeman argues the state should have a limited role in supporting care arrangements.WNYC and Gothamist reporter Jimmy Vielkind heads to Willsboro, New York to see what's at stake for families and daycare owners, and joins us to kick off our four part series, New York State of Unaffordability, dropping every Wednesday in October.Photo: Clubhouse Daycare Center / courtesy Taylor Loreman Got any questions, comments or story ideas? Send us a message at [e-mail] moves to spend nearly $9M of gender-affirming care fund for minorsNYC’s autumn foliage will be a fall feast this year  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

From WNYC, this is NYC Now. I'm Jene Pierre. How can I pay every two weeks my employees and my payroll? This is frustrating. Across New York State, both parents and child care center owners are running into the same problem. Affordability. And that's the topic for today's show. For the next four Wednesdays leading up to the gubernatorial election,

we'll highlight the affordability issues New Yorkers face and what it takes. to maintain a life in the Empire State. It's a series we're calling New York State of Unaffordability. But before we get into that, here's a few headlines we're following. New York City will spend nearly $9 million to provide gender-affirming health care to people under 18. The money is part of a $15 million investment in gender affirming care initiatives that the Mamdani administration announced back in June. City Hall is beefing up local resources as the White House continues to strengthen.

rip minors from accessing that type of health care. If you're one of the 17,000 property owners who received notice of the new Pietater tax, you now have until Tuesday, October 13th, to apply for an exemption. The tax on second homes valued at $5 million or more, a million dollar condos takes effect next year, although it is facing multiple legal challenges in state court. New York City saw heavy rain last week, and as a result, we'll get a long and viable vibrant fall foliage season, and I'm not mad at that. I've been seeing some intense autumn leaf colors around the city. Maple leaves are already turning fiery hues of orange, gold, and scarlet.

The city's parks department is predicting peak foliage around mid-October through November. I don't know who needs to plan a fall photo shoot, but the city is definitely ready to be your backdrop. For more on all these stories I mentioned, visit our news site gotamist.com. All right, let's get on with the show. In a small town in northern New York, Taylor Lorman runs a daycare center. For some of the families she serves, Taylor says child care is only affordable because the state helps pay for it. There are parents that are making okay money, but they're still not making it work. Then one day, that help disappear.

That made me lose two families from here because they couldn't afford to send their kid to daycare anymore. That was income Taylor was counting on. Taylor's problem is about child care, but across New York State, people are running into versions of the same problem with some of the basic things it takes to build a life here. Finding a home you can afford, paying the utility bill, finding a job that pays enough to keep up, or even figuring out who watches your kids while you work. In this year's race for governor, voters are choosing between two very different ideas about what New York should do about the those costs. Governor Kathy Hockel has proposed government programs aimed at bringing the costs down. We do it not just for making sure that we support our families, but we're doing it for the future of all little children. Her Republican challenger, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakman,

is skeptical of that approach. I think it needs to be refined. Like most of the state programs, they're overburdensome and over expensive. Blakman says relief comes from smaller government, lower taxes, and fewer regulations. That disagreement is at the heart of a new four-part series we're calling New York State of unaffordability. Over the next four Wednesdays, we're going across New York State to meet people living with these costs firsthand. Today, child care in northern New York, then jobs in the micron chip plant near Syracuse, energy bills in western New York, and housing in and around New York City. Six days after that last episode on November 3rd, New Yorkers hit the polls to vote. So first, child care. WNYC and Gothamist reporter Jimmy Vilkine has been looking at what the political divide over child care means for the families who rely on daycares like tailors and for the daycares trying to stay open.

Hey, Jimmy, welcome to the show. Hey, Jenae. It's good to be here. So I understand you started in Willsborough, New York. I got to be honest, I have no clue where that is. That's right. So to get to Willsborough, you basically just go really, really, really far north. Willisboro is in Essex County. It's on the western shore of Lake Champlain, kind of sandwiched between the Adirondack Mountains. If you go any further east across the lake, you're in Vermont.

And if you go much further north, you're in Canada. But I didn't come up here to see the land. I was there to see a place called the Clubhouse Daycare Center. Oh, you're Taylor? Hi, nice to meet you, Jimmy. So it's run by Taylor Lorman, who showed me around. This is our like communal space kind of area. This is more for our three to five.

This is more for our toddlers, 18 months to three. I got to speak with Taylor for about 30 minutes before the kids woke up. This is my lead teacher. So this is our preschool space. And we talked about the origin story of the place, which is really why I made the trip in the first place. So we started the clubhouse on a desert grant through New York State. So that was a huge help because this area has no child care. Taylor says parents in the area mostly rely on care from family members.

There are some in-home daycare centers, but it was a big deal that there was this daycare center that was actually able to get started. And it took some state money to get it off the ground. We were allotted $350,000. And which seems like a lot. Even with that money, though, they almost had to close down. Wow. Well, Clubhouse charges a flat rate, which total is about $1,200 a month. It's $289 a week, or it's $65 a day.

Do people around here pay that? I have families that are on assistance, but I do have a handful of families that are paying that. Doing some quick math here, though, Jimmy. We're talking $14,000 a year, roughly? Yeah, and remember, the average cost. statewide is about $35,000 for two kids. So not a small number either way. Now, I talked to Taylor about how people make that work, and she mentioned CCAP or the Child Care Assistance Program. So the CCAP program is there's a couple different branches. So this program's available around

the state. It reaches lots of people. And a family of four is eligible for subsidies if it makes $117,000 a year or less. So this subsidy program, which people apply, for, which people receive, one day it just ran out of money. Ran out of it. They're not sure how, what happened, or whatever, but that made me lose two families from here because they couldn't afford to send their kid to daycare anymore. What does Taylor mean here that the money just ran out? Well, families have to apply for this program. They have to prove that they meet the income requirements. They have to show that they have children. They have to show they're going to use

it for daycare. And that lasts for about a year. Then you have to reapply, and renew. And when these families tried to do it, they were told by the government, hey, we can't. We've run out of money. They just got cut off. And it left Taylor hanging. How can I pay every two weeks my employees and my payroll? This is frustrating. So if the state sets up the program, why didn't they just put enough money behind it? That's a really good question. They asked Shoshana Hirschkowitz, who's from the Empire State Campaign for Child Care. The governor raised the level of eligibility and put more dollars into it, but she raised the level of C-CAP eligibility to 85% of the state median income.

So roughly $117,000 for a family for if you make that or below, you qualify for the child care assistance program. She said that the program was just more popular than expected, and then Hockel made it bigger. And the funding, although it did go up and she put more money into it than really anyone historically has, matched the demand. So when that eligibility went up, so did the demand. More parents requested support. And that is where counties began to run out of money. And we know Essex County is one of those. How is this playing out around the state?

Oh, there's impacts everywhere. In New York City, there were about 29,000 families who were trying to get the vouchers but couldn't. outside of the city, there are three dozen counties that either froze their programs or started up wait lists or that just started turning people away. It's arguably hitting upstate areas like Willisboro harder because the average incomes there are lower. Herskowitz explained why pretty well. And also the fact that, you know, it is lower income in a lot of those places. So, you know, I think the other piece of it is that, you know, if you're in a place like in Essex County, you'll probably have more folks within the $117,000 for a family of four than you will in Suffolk County,

where I am. But those families' needs are still the same. You know, it's already hard as a working parent juggling your child care, your aftercare, your everything. Then you lose your voucher, and, you know, all of a sudden you can't pay. Yeah, I can barely imagine, Jeanne, you work so hard, you set up that whole routine, and then one day it just all falls apart like a house of cards. Remember, there were 36 counties around the state where this happened, where officials had to pump the brakes on the program. Taylor, the daycare owner, told me that one family at her center reduced the number of days that it was sending its kid because it just couldn't pay for a full week anymore after the C-CAP funding dried up. And that has a really big ripple effect on a small center.

If families leave, Taylor said, that she doesn't have enough money to pay her staff. So then she has to consider laying someone off. And if you lay someone off, that means there are fewer seats for kids. And if there are fewer seats, then maybe you can't pay for the building. Maybe the center has to close. And then there's less available daycare for any of the families in this area. It's just this vicious downward spiral.

Yeah, and it's not like she can raise her prices, right? No, that's the thing. People are already at the limit of what they can pay. If we don't get funding or help or things like that, daycare centers will start to feel this burden on themselves because they aren't getting outside help. And like I said, you can't make your rates go up any higher because it is already so expensive as it is. Okay. So how does this get resolved? I mean, Taylor can't raise her prices because people can't afford to pay it.

Yeah. And, you know, Jena, that's exactly Governor Hoko's argument. You know, she mentions all the time that she is the first mom governor. She also tells the story about how she worked on Capitol Hill as a lawyer for a U.S. Senator named Daniel Patrick Moynihan. And after her first child was born, she had to give up that job. I always wanted to do that job since I was a teenager. I dreamed of working on Capitol Hill someday for a senator and achieved that.

But then kids came along not long after. And I had to make a decision that I wish I hadn't had to. to make. Let's the governor talking about child care during a recent interview on WNYC. She emphasized that this is really personal for her, and I got a few more details about exactly what her administration is doing about the issue at an Albany event with a member of her cabinet. DeMia Harris Madden is commissioner of the state's Office of Children and Family Services. She went over Hockel's programs at a youth shelter in Albany, talking to about two dozen people, and focusing specifically on that CCAP program that ran out of money.

We are really, really excited that $3 billion was added to the CCAP program this year. You know, $3 billion sounds like a lot, but is it enough to help? Well, remember, there were 36 counties which had run out of money. Some are starting to come back online. The state tells me that the number of places where there are disruptions is down to 19 counties. So they call that progress. Progress. Yeah.

All right. That's progress. So Governor Hockel's answer to the child care crunch is more government money. But her Republican opponent for Governor Bruce Blakman sees it completely differently. When we come back, we'll talk about what he thinks the state should be doing instead. Stay close. Welcome back to NYC now. I'm talking with WNYC reporter Jimmy Vilkine about the growing cost of child care in New York

and the very different ideas Governor Hockel and her Republican challenger Bruce Blakman have about fixing it. Before the break, we heard about Hogle's approach, which is expanding the state's child care assistance program. Let's talk now, Jimmy, about her opponent. What does Bruce Blakeman say about all of this? You know, he's pretty skeptical of this, Jenae. He seems concerned that this is an expansion of what government does. You know, we all kind of accept that there's going to be free public schooling for people kindergarten to 12th grade, but in recent years, that's been extended. The government started stepping up to help with child care for toddlers, which is relatively new. Going down to two-year-olds or even infants would be just kind of a new equation.

And Blakeman thinks that that should be limited. I think it needs to be modified. I think it needs to be refined. Like most of the state programs, they're overburdensome and over-expensive. He told me he wants to see this done. Maybe it's like a tax credit. So it only goes to people who are working. 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. Okay, Jimmy, so I'm hearing two things here.

One, Bruce Blakman isn't a fan of the view. And two, he's saying government shouldn't be getting into the business of child care. Exactly. And there are two parts to his thinking. The first is the money part. Any expansion like this is going to cost a lot of money, and he's already concerned about government spending. But the second part is more cultural.

Child care is not to take the place to the parent. Child care is for working people who need a little help with taking care of their children so they can go out and work. He says family should raise their own children, that it's not the government's job to do that. He's also kind of harketing back to this stereotype of the wealth Fair Queen, which has been around to the days of Ronald Reagan and been employed by various Republicans since them. When we talked with Governor Hockel about this, she really took issue with it.

It almost doesn't deserve a response because it is so out of line with what New Yorkers are feeling and experiencing, but to call people lazy asses anyone. I mean, that is so derogatory. So what about the money part here? Are there enough dollars in the state or in the city budget to do that? Not really. Both the state and the city already have plans to spend more than they're going to take in. We're talking about billions of dollars to make child care truly universal. Mayor Mamdani wants to do it in New York City, and there's an estimate that that would cost as much as $9 billion a year. To take that program statewide, figure you basically have to double the cost.

So if you add on more plans for spending, you're going to have to think about bringing in more money. And for the government, that generally means raising taxes. I wonder where the candidates stand on that. I know in the past, Mayor Mumdani has called on Governor Cathy Hokel to raise taxes on the rich. But where do they both stand when it comes to raising taxes, Jimmy? Well, Governor Hokel really doesn't want to do that. And actually, she and Miramam Dani fought about it. He wants to raise income taxes on millionaires.

Hockel says she's concerned if you do that. People are going to flee the state. New York millionaires already. pay the highest combined taxes in the nation if they live in New York City. And then Blankman told me directly that he also doesn't want to do it. He just doesn't think that the government needs more money, that it's already taking plenty from people. He wants to cut taxes and he just needs to spend money more wisely. Okay, so there's a clear clash between the candidates here. Hockel, on one hand, is trying to get more money to help families. And on the other hand, Blakeman is reluctant, I guess,

to even open the cash faucet. Earlier, Jimmy, you said that the clubhouse daycare is in Essex County. And I'm wondering, is that a Republican county or Democratic? It's a pretty Republican place. The local elected officials are Republicans. But it's not overwhelming. In 2024, Kamala Harris actually narrowly beat Donald Trump there, but it was really just a few dozen votes difference.

Oh, wow. I only asked that because I'm curious about what Taylor had to say when you asked how to make things, you know, more affordable for her and the families that she serves. You know, for Taylor, this center is her dream. She told me that she was in school as a student when she sketched out a business plan for daycare on a project in like a home economics class. Wow. Yeah, and now she's lived in that dream.

And as far as she's concerned, it's a worthwhile investment in a community like hers. It should be funded. We should be funded just like a school is. So Taylor's running a daycare. but she thinks of it as a school. And she wants New Yorkers to start treating it like one. It teaches life skills. It teaches kids how to navigate emotions and just know their peers.

The problem is that that gap between what people like Taylor think child care should be worth and what families are actually able to pay is the story that we're going to keep running into for this entire series. Yeah, I'm really excited to share that conversation with our listeners, Jimmy, because that's another field trip you took out to Syracuse. But before I let you go, you got to talk to Taylor while the kids were napping. And I know that you're no quiet talker. Did you wake them up by chance? No, they woke up on their own.

But it happened just the time for me to head out. I got to go. What do you say? Bye bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. I got to go home. Dinner.

I got to make dinner. I got to make dinner. That's WMYC's Jimmyville, kind. Bye bye, Jimmy. Bye-bye. Take care of Janae. Thank you for listening to NYC now. Next week on the show, we're taking this series to Syracuse, where we'll look at jobs,

and whether there's enough opportunity in upstate communities to actually build a life there. That's part two of our series, New York State of Unaffordability. I'm Jenae Pierre. See you next time.