DHS Director Erin Dalton Named NYC Social Services Commissioner
Published on February 25, 2026
PITTSBURGH – After 18 years of service at the Allegheny County Department of Human Services, Director Erin Dalton is moving on to serve as Commissioner of the Department of Social Services for New York City. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced today that Erin Dalton will join his administration and run the largest social services department in the country.
Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato thanked Director Dalton for her service and wished her the best of luck with her new position, saying: “While we are terribly disappointed to lose Director Dalton, we know Allegheny County’s loss is New York City’s gain. She has given the majority of her professional career to coming up with innovative, data-driven, and compassionate solutions in the human services space to better serve the residents of Allegheny County. I’m proud of the work we’ve done together to house our neighbors, support people with substance use disorder, and reimagine public safety and mental health response. I know she will serve the New York City community well.”
“Over the last 30 years, the Department of Human Services has become a national model — not only for compassionate and effective human services delivery, but for rigorously testing solutions and continuously innovating,” said Erin Dalton. “It has been an extraordinary honor to work alongside community members, advocates, frontline staff, and the provider community to bring practical solutions to problems that once felt intractable. Whether facing a global pandemic, a funding shortfall, or a fire at our largest shelter, the people of Allegheny County show up for one another — and that collective commitment is our greatest strength. While I look forward to serving New York City residents, I will always have deep admiration for Allegheny County — a community that invests in its government and expects it to deliver.”
“New Yorkers deserve leaders who listen and act with urgency. Erin Dalton has spent decades making government work better for those who need it most — expanding housing access, strengthening social services, and protecting our most vulnerable neighbors,” said Mayor Zohran Mamdani. “I’m proud to work alongside Commissioner Dalton to build a city that is more just, effective, and accessible for all.”
Some recent accomplishments for the Department of Human Services under Director Dalton include:
- Reduced the number of people staying in tents along our rivers and downtown streets — from tents filling our riverfronts at their peak following the pandemic, to only a handful on any given day.
- Moved 620 people from shelter to permanent housing in 500 days through the 500 in 500 initiative, which continues on.
- Expanded the winter shelter network so that no one is forced to stay outside in dangerous cold.
- Replaced outdated assessments with data-driven decision support tools, improving outcomes for people and reducing racial disparities in decision-making.
- Invested $50 million over five years in a first-ever countywide violence prevention initiative grounded in research-backed interventions.
- Launched and scaled Hello Baby, a groundbreaking countywide universal outreach initiative that uses advanced analytics to offer families help from the day they bring a baby home from the hospital – and provides tiered, voluntary assistance based on risk, with the goal of reducing future child welfare involvement.
- Reduced unnecessary child welfare case openings by restructuring service pathways -- so now, when appropriate, we can give families help without formal system involvement.
- Implemented large-scale systemic reforms across the behavioral health system, including transforming how neighborhoods respond to crises so that behavioral health professionals are now answering certain 9-1-1 calls, and increasing medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) in the jail by 15 times in two years.
Allegheny County Department of Human Services is an innovative department, serving 200,000 people with a variety of needs each year, from infants to older adults in the region. The department will be led by Interim Director Alex Jutca upon Director Dalton’s departure. Allegheny County will undergo a nationwide search for the next director of the Department of Human Services.
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Media Contacts:
Department of Human Services: Courtney Lewis, Courtney.Lewis@AlleghenyCounty.US
County Executive's Office: Beth Turnbull, Elizabeth.Turnbull@AlleghenyCounty.US