Report Reveals Potential Loss of Federal Broadband Benefit for 270K+ BK Households

Over 270,000 Brooklyn households are poised to lose access to a low-cost broadband connection subsidy as a federal program expired in April, according to a recent report from the nonprofit Center for an Urban Future.

According to an analysis of the federal government’s Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which provides low-income households with a $30 subsidy to reduce the cost of home broadband service, nearly one million households across the five boroughs are poised to lose this subsidy, with the most significant impact felt in the city’s lowest-income communities.

The report found that Brooklyn has the highest total number of households enrolled in the ACP, with 272,517 households.

Six out of the top 25 NYC zip codes with the most households enrolled in the ACP are located in Brooklyn, including Bedford Stuyvesant, Bushwick, East New York, and Sunset Park. More than half (53%) of households in the zip code of 11239 in Canarsie/Flatlands rely on the ACP for broadband access, the study found.

This analysis suggests that ACP enrollment in New York City is concentrated in areas of the city that need it most, with New York’s lowest-income neighborhoods seeing the highest levels of enrollment.

The nonprofit said that broadband access is essential for education, employment and social services, as New Yorkers grapple with a widespread affordability crisis.

The group urged Congress to reauthorize funding for the ACP. At the same time, city and state leaders will have to do much more to expand broadband access and lower costs for the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers who struggle to afford high-speed internet, the group added.