New York City is preparing to sign a nearly $1.4 billion contract to put up migrants in hotels. The expenditure is part of the massive expenditures caused by the migrant flux, as the city is now spending $11 million per day on the crisis.
New York is facing the sharp price of an influx of migrants since President Joe Biden took office in 2021. The new hotel contract includes more than 100 hotels across the city that have been converted into shelters for the migrants. The city’s leadership has stated that its hotels are at least half filled with migrants.
Some members of the city’s political leadership criticized the move. City Councilman Robert Holden (D) said that the current migrant crisis “evolved into a financial boondoggle, with quietly extended contracts fattening the pockets of a few at the taxpayer’s expense.”
“It’s time to halt this fiscal recklessness,” he said, adding that the city should send buses of migrants to the White House and “remember that ‘Right to Shelter’ shouldn’t be misconstrued as a global entitlement.”
Furthermore, a representative of the city’s Department of Social Social Services said that the current contract proposal “is designed to provide capacity as needed, but it also provides the flexibility to scale back or terminate if circumstances on the ground change.”
Overall, the city is planning to spend about $12 billion over the next several years on migrant expenses.
.@GovKathyHochul announced she will deploy additional National Guardsmen to help manage the migrant crisis overwhelming New York City and much of the surrounding area. | @CarolineDowney_ https://t.co/NWT6fqnn0Q
— National Review (@NRO) September 26, 2023
Overall, the city has signed more than $5 billion in almost 200 contracts to care for the more than 100,000 migrants in the city. More than 60,000 migrants are currently in city shelters. Furthermore, the city had a previous $240 million contract to provide hotel services for the migrants.
New York City and state leaders have asked for significant amounts of federal aid to help cover the cost of the migrants.
Recently, Mayor Eric Adams (D) said that the city would face financial and social catastrophe if the migrant situation is not settled. In particular, much of the migrant wave has arrived last year.
