Departmental Highlights

Snapshot: Appropriation & Staffing Changes from 2025 Budget

	2025 Budgeted	2026 Proposed	Net Change	Percent Change	Average Annual Rate of Change (2011-2025)	Inflation-adjusted Rate of Change (2011-2024)
Appropriations	$937,819,585	$632,560,045	-$305,259,540	-32.5%	8.2%	4.4%
Positions & FTEs	443	433	-10	-2.3%	-3.4%	NA

• 2026’s $632.6 million budget proposal would be a -32.6 % decline from the previous year, the first decrease in DFSS’s budget since a 2013 low of $298.3 million (inflation-adjusted $388.2 million in 2024 dollars).
• Budget growth over time at DFSS has not been matched by corresponding staffing growth because increasing portions of the department’s budget have been dedicated to the “Professional and Technical Services” and “Delegate Agencies” appropriations – outside contracting and pass-through spending on private and non-profit service providers.
• Apart from retitling/level changes, the largest share of CDPH’s net -10 headcount change in the 2026 proposal came in the Youth Services Coordinator title, with four of the department’s 19 positions eliminated (a -21.1% decline).
• DFSS’s matching and supplemental grants appropriation saw massive growth from the previous year’s budget, up $14.4 million (1393.8%) to become one of the department’s top 10 largest appropriations. The increase was driven entirely by a $15 million HUD grant for disaster payments; outside of that single grant the category decreased slightly.
• Software maintenance and licensing also leapt dramatically, up $1.9 million (over 16,000%) from the previous year. Unlike the increase in matching grants, this increase is entirely within the corporate fund.
• The department’s other largest appropriation-level increases came in youth employment (up $6.1 million, 14.2%) and homeless services (up $2.4 million, 3.7%).
• Multiple targeted programs saw million-dollar-plus cuts in this year’s budget proposal, including early childhood education (down -$2.3 million, -21.1%), workforce services target population (down $1.5 million, -77.4%) and violence reduction (down $1.1 million, -16.9%).

Historical Context

The Department of Family and Support Services budget increased significantly under the Lightfoot administration, even before the infusion of federal funds during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Budget growth was not matched by staffing growth because the majority of the increase was dedicated to the “Professional and Technical Services” and “Delegate Agencies” appropriations – outside contracting and pass-through spending on private and non-profit service providers. DFSS also has a number of specific program-level appropriations that are also primarily passed through to third parties. 

At the start of the Emanuel administration, the city was budgeting $29.2 million for DFSS outside contracting. As DFSS workforce declined, outside contracting increased, reaching budgeted appropriations totalling $463.5 million in Emanuel’s final budget, and increasing further to $508.3 million in Lightfoot’s first (before the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of relief grant funding).

From 2011-2025, DFSS appropriations increased at an average annual rate of 8.2%, or 4.4% adjusted for inflation, almost identical to the citywide average rate of 8.3% (inflation-adjusted 4.4%). 

2026’s $632.6 million budget proposal would represent the first decline in DFSS’s budget since a 2013 low of $298.3 million (inflation-adjusted $388.2 million in 2024 dollars), and a -32.6 % decline from the previous year. 

Over the past three complete budget years for which local fund actuals/encumbrances data is available, DFSS spent on average 92% of its locally funded budget, compared to the citywide average 86.4% local fund spend.

Staffing levels at DFSS declined at an average annual rate of -3.4% from 2011-2025, compared to a citywide average annual change of -0.1%, even as the department’s overall budget increased, representing the increasing share of appropriations dedicated to outside contracting and pass-through spending. 

From February through September of 2025, the months for which the city released full-time position vacancy data, DFSS averaged a 12% vacancy rate, compared to the citywide average of 11.2%. 

24 of the department’s budgeted full-time positions were persistent vacancies, meaning that the same title/division/section/subsection combination was vacant for all eight months of available data.

Staffing

Apart from retitling/level changes, the largest share of CDPH’s net -10 headcount change came in the Youth Services Coordinator title, with four of the department’s 19 positions eliminated (a -21.1% decline). 

Appropriations

DFSS is 30.6% locally-funded in this year’s budget proposal, up from 20% in the previous year as pandemic-era grant funds expire. 

State and federal grants still make up more than half of DFSS’s proposed appropriations, despite declines in both, with the corporate fund providing a further 18.1% of the department’s budget as the largest local funding source. 

DFSS draws from several newly-named funds, including the Community Safety Fund (planned to be funded with a revived corporate head tax) and the Disaster Recovery and Entitlement funds, which according to the Grant Details budget supplement are CDBG-funded. (CDBG has been eliminated from the budget’s terminology this year as both a fund type and an individually named fund.)

Fund	2025 Budgeted	2026 Proposed	Net Change from 2025	Percent Change from 2025	Percent of 2026 Recommended Funds
State Grant Fund	$313,464,000	$192,968,000	-$120,496,000	-38.4%	30.5%
Federal Grant Fund	$242,634,408	$146,607,000	-$96,027,408	-39.6%	23.2%
Corporate Fund	$164,759,154	$114,180,283	-$50,578,871	-30.7%	18.1%
Community Safety Fund	$0	$62,323,347	$62,323,347	New Fund	9.9%
COVID-19 Grant Fund	$52,221,000	$44,443,000	-$7,778,000	-14.9%	7.0%
Entitlement Fund	$0	$24,644,000	$24,644,000	New Fund	3.9%
Disaster Recovery Fund	$0	$15,510,000	$15,510,000	New Fund	2.5%
Houseshare Surcharge – Homeless Services Fund	$13,708,000	$11,192,277	-$2,515,723	-18.4%	1.8%
Grants Management Fund	0	$6,056,000	$6,056,000	New Fund	1.0%
Houseshare Surcharge – Domestic Violence Fund	$9,016,000	$5,688,138	-$3,327,862	-36.9%	0.9%
Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund	$109,444,023	$4,607,000	-$104,837,023	-95.8%	0.7%
Local Public and Private Grant Fund	$7,241,000	$4,191,000	-$3,050,000	-42.1%	0.7%
Program Income Fund	$691,000	$150,000	-$541,000	-78.3%	0.0%
Community Development Block Grant Year LI	$24,641,000	$0	-$24,641,000	-100.0%	0.0%

Largest Appropriations

Pass-through spending to delegate agencies is the largest DFSS appropriation by far this year, as it is in most years. (In 2025’s budget, the new “reserve balance” category for grant funds not planned to be expended within the budget year exceeded delegate agencies.) 

A standalone appropriation for homeless services, up slightly from the previous year, is the department’s second-largest appropriation, followed by reserve balance and outside contracting through the professional and technical services appropriation. 

In 2024, the most recent complete budget year for which local fund actuals and encumbrances data is available, DFSS spent 94.4% of its locally-funded budget. (However, only 20% of DFSS’s budget came from local funds that year.) 

Within its local funds, DFSS overspent slightly in the after school programs, youth mentoring programs, legal protection, and homeless services for youth categories. The overspend was more than balanced by underspend in other categories, particularly in homeless services, summer programs, and contract services. 

Change from Previous Year

DFSS’s matching and supplemental grants appropriation saw massive growth from the previous year’s budget, up $14.4 million (1393.8%) to become one of the department’s top 10 largest appropriations. Software maintenance and licensing also leapt dramatically, up $1.9 million (over 16,000%) from the previous year. 

The department’s other largest appropriation-level increases came in youth employment (up $6.1 million, 14.2%) and homeless services (up $2.4 million, 3.7%). 

The reserve balance category saw the largest decrease, followed by delegate agencies, both still remaining among the department’s largest appropriations despite the cuts. 

Multiple targeted programs saw million-dollar-plus cuts in this year’s budget proposal, including early childhood education (down -$2.3 million, -21.1%), workforce services target population (down $1.5 million, -77.4%) and violence reduction (down $1.1 million, -16.9%).