NYC Struggles To Pay For Social Services On Time, Report Finds

NEW YORK, NY — Contracts with nonprofits move at a glacial pace through the city's bureaucracy, putting even more pressure on sometimes cash-strapped groups that feed, house and teach New Yorkers, City Comptroller Scott Stringer's office found.

More than 81 percent of all city contracts in the 2017 fiscal year were registered — or given final approval that allows the vendor to get paid — after their offical start date, according to a report Stringer's office released Tuesday.

The problem was even more widespread among contracts for some of the city's most vital services. Nearly 91 percent of new and renewed pacts with the city's seven major human services agencies got to the comptroller's office for approval after their start date, and half were more than six months late, the report says.

"This comes down to our priorities as a city," Stringer, a Democrat, said in a statement. "We owe it to all our neighbors to deliver necessary services in a timely manner. And there’s a common-sense solution – hold City agencies accountable."

Contracts often must work through a labyrinth of city agencies before they get to the comptroller's office for a final review, after which they're either registered or returned.

That review took an average of 19 days in the 2017 fiscal year, the report says, but it can take months before a contract is delivered to the comptroller, a process for which there are no specific time frames.

The Human Resources Administration and the Department of Homeless Services were the worst offenders — every contract under both agencies was submitted for registration after the official start date in the 2017 fiscal year, the report says. The Department of Education wasn't far behind with 405 of its 406 contracts submitted late.

Those delays can cause trouble for nonprofit organizations that provide services for the city's neediest residents, such as homeless shelters and after-school programs. They have tighter budgets than corporate contractors and are sometimes forced to take loans from the city when they start work before their contracts are registered, the report says.

The comptroller's office recommended that the city assign agencies specific time frames for reviewing contracts and create a system to let vendors track pacts through each stage of the process.

The Department of Homeless Services says it has worked through a three-year backlog in its contracts over the past year and a half under Social Services Commissioner Steven Banks, who also leads the Human Resources Administration. Nearly every homeless services contract from fiscal years 2016 through 2018 is now registered and active, the department said.

The department has invested $236 million in increasing outdated rates it had been paying organizations for years, a spokesman said.

"We have also been working closely with these vital partners to resolve inherited contracting backlogs, implement model budgets for the first time ever, and address any outstanding challenges they may have to ensure they can deliver the services our neighbors in need deserve as they get back on their feet," Isaac McGinn, a department spokesman, said in a statement.

Mayor Bill de Blasio's office did not comment on the report Tuesday.

(Lead image: A homeless couple begs for money with a sign in August 2014. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)