Mayor Adams Solicits State for $4.2 Billion to Cover Mounting Migrant Bill

by M.C. Millman

Mayor Eric Adams has put a new price tag on the more than 44,000 asylum-seeking migrants, requesting that State lawmakers agree to cover New York City's estimated $4.2 billion in the costs of providing migrants with care and shelter.

The funds requested would come from Governor Hochul's proposed $227 executive budget. Presently, that budget only allots $1.1 billion to cover New York City's migrant costs as the proposal presumes that costs for housing asylum seekers will be split equally between City, State, and Federal funding sources. 

Adams told Albany lawmakers on Wednesday that the unexpected surge of migrants since last April has created a cost pressure New York City can't manage on its own. 

"While the executive budget contains many shared priorities, the cuts and cost shifts significantly outweigh the assistance the state is providing to address the asylum-seeker crisis," Adams testified while raising the threat of service cuts in the next fiscal year if the City doesn’t get more financial support from the State.

Most of the costs are going towards temporary shelters such as the 492-room Holiday Inn in the Financial District, which opened as the newest emergency shelter last week. 

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