NYC Migrant Crisis To Cost Staggering $5 Billion For Shelters, Security And Food

The tab for New York City to house and feed scores of illegal migrants has likely surpassed $5 billion, of which $2 billion alone has been spent on housing, according to city data cited by the NY Post.

Since the spring of 2022, some 212,000 ‘asylum seekers’ have flowed through the system, according to City Hall.

Money spent so far includes:

• $1.98 billion on housing and rent.

• About $2 billion on services and supplies.

• Nearly $500 million on food and medical costs.

• Another $500 million on IT, administrative and other costs. 

The NYPD has spent $21 million on public safety and security related to the migrants.

The eye-popping figures, listed on the city’s online asylum-seeker funding tracker, shows the city overall spent $4.88 billion combined through fiscal years 2023 and ‘24. Based on the rate of spending, the city likely exceeded more than $112 million since the start of the new fiscal year beginning July 1, or will soon, cracking $5 billion.

Mayor Eric Adams’ administration has even projected the cost could double, hitting $10 billion over the three year period ending June 30, 2025.

In a recent posting, the city’s Department of Homeless Services revealed two more contracts this week totaling a combined $40 million in order to provide services to migrants at hotels converted into emergency shelters – which include hotels at the heart of the Broadway tourist disrict.

According to Mayor Eric Adams’ chief of staff Camille Joseph Varlack, “This is not a New York City issue or even a United States issue, this is a worldwide issue,” adding “We’ve had the opportunity to speak to other cities who are expecting and experiencing migration and we expect that to continue between wars and climate change and all the other issues.”

Hotels Raking It In…

As noted last month by The Blaze, and The New York Post, New York City hotels will be taking in more than $1 billion in taxpayer cash to support migrants. Their reports note that the city currently uses 193 migrant shelters, with about 80% housed in motels, hotels, or inns.

According to a May analysis by Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, the average cost per hotel room is $156, though some reports suggest these locations may be charging over $300 per night since migrants began arriving in spring 2022.

The report highlights that by May 31, the city had spent about $4.88 billion on the migrant crisis, with $1.98 billion allocated specifically to migrant housing, including hotels, motels, and tent cities at Randall’s Island and Floyd Bennett Field.

The Blaze wrote that CoStar reported in November 2023 that up to 16,000 hotel rooms have been taken off the market for migrants, impacting the hotel industry negatively.

William Shandler, who is a manager at Iron Bar commented: “Our taxes are being used to pay for the migrants, and where are we supposed to make revenue? How as a business could we function?”

Councilwoman Joann Ariola added that hotels are “not for sheltering the masses of people pouring over our borders every day,” but rather for tourism. “These locations were meant to boost the economy of this city, but instead they’ve become a net drain and are costing us enormously,” she told the New York Post. 

The Post wrote that the city’s financial support has bolstered the hotel industry, which added 21,000 rooms in the four years before the pandemic, according to the Department of Planning. When tourism plummeted in 2020, former Mayor Bill de Blasio provided a lifeline by contracting hotels to house the homeless.

Mayor Eric Adams has continued this practice. By September, the city extended a three-year, $1.3 billion contract with the Hotel Association of New York City to house migrants. Additionally, a $76.69 million emergency contract was signed in January for shelter at 15 hotels.

HANYC’s president, Vijay Dandapani, stated they’re working to keep costs low while supporting the city’s efforts to care for asylum seekers.

Enjoy your next vacation to New York City!