An email obtained by a local news agency on Monday says that New York City's social services office will soon start cutting low-income residents' safety net benefits if they don't meet work requirements.

NYC Mayor Eric Adams.Photo byNYC Mayors Office From Flickr

The Department of Social Services told groups that help the homeless and low-income in an email sent Monday afternoon that the so-called "welfare-to-work" rules for people who get cash support will start up again on July 28.

The agency made the choice based on state and federal rules. Because of the pandemic, the city stopped making people who were getting cash aid work, go to school, or look for work four years ago.

The most current city data shows that in May, more than 550,000 New Yorkers got the main cash assistance benefit. This is up from about 400,000 in May 2020.

Small Amount of Cash For Low-Income Residents

There is a program that gives low-income residents small amounts of money every month to help them with their most basic wants. In New York City, a single adult can get $183 a month in cash support benefits.

A family of three with children who depend on them can get $389 a month. But now, people who get the benefit will have to do things that are linked to finding work, like showing that they're looking for work or going to work training.

Cutting Aid To Recipients

The decision to cut aid to people who don't meet the work requirements comes after yearly reports on agency performance showed that in the past few years, the agency failed to process benefit applications and give money to people in need on time in the vast majority of cases.

The Department of Social Services told local news agency Gothamist in March that it had almost finished processing all of the cases for food stamps and cash aid.

Neha Sharma, a spokeswoman for the Department of Social Services, said that the organization is giving cash aid to a "record number of New Yorkers," but they had to bring back the work requirements to follow state and federal rules. In 2021, the state's Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance told cities and towns to put back in place work standards.