New York City Cash Assistance Payments Hit 30-Year High of $2.6 Billion

The surge in welfare spending reached nearly 865,000 residents as a prominent investor threatens to pull back from the city.

New York City's cash assistance program paid out $2.6 billion last year, a 30-year high, reaching nearly 865,000 residents, according to city data reported by Fox News.

The scale of the spending has become a flashpoint in the city's broader debate over affordability and fiscal priorities. Billionaire investor Ken Griffin has threatened to halt investments in the city over the growth in welfare spending, Fox News reported.

The record payout underscores how deeply the city's safety-net programs have expanded even as officials grapple with high housing costs and other affordability pressures facing New Yorkers. The figures mark the highest level of cash assistance spending the city has recorded in three decades.

— Compiled from reporting by Fox News.