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Council hears CCHR testimony on vacancies, backlogs and need for funding
Summary
Commissioner Christine Clark told the City Council the Commission on Human Rights is operating with a substantial vacancy rate and lengthy case backlogs; advocates urged boosting the commissions FY27 budget to $25 million and exempting it from hiring freezes that slow recruitment.
Commissioner Christine Clark told the Councils Committee on Civil and Human Rights that the New York City Commission on Human Rights is understaffed and stretched thin as it seeks to enforce the citys broad human-rights law.
"I am privileged to work with a small but dedicated team at the Commission on Human Rights," Clark said in opening testimony, and later described a gap between the budgeted headcount and current staffing: the agency recorded a budgeted headcount near 141 but actual active staff were around 103 earlier this year. Clark and deputy staff described roughly 32 current vacancies and an agency-wide vacancy rate approaching the high 20s percent.
The committee pressed the administration on how a two-for-one hiring policy and OMB approval timelines lengthen recruitment. Deputy Commissioner Mariela Salazar said…
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