Immigration crisis would cost NYC more than $12 billion without federal or state aid

NEW YORK — The crisis in New York City due to the growing number of asylum seekers once again led Mayor Eric Adams to call for financial aid from the federal and state governments to address the crisis that has hit him so far. it has cost the city $1.45 billion in fiscal year 2023. This money has been used to provide shelter, food and services to tens of thousands of migrants who now number nearly 100,000 since they began arriving in the spring of 2022, said the mayor.

With this in mind, the Democrat on Monday presented updated figures on the crisis and how much the next two fiscal years will cost the city if the state and federal governments do not take quick action to help manage the emergency. New cost estimates based on current trends show the city has the potential to spend more than $12 billion over three fiscal years (Fiscal Years 23, 24 and 25) without policy changes, the mayor said.

“Immigration is the story of New York. It’s American history. But as I stated almost a year ago, we are facing an unprecedented state of emergency due to the asylum seeker crisis,” said Mayor Adams. “Since last year, close to 100,000 asylum seekers have come to our city asking for refuge, and we have exceeded our limit. New York City has been left to pick up the pieces of a broken immigration system, one that is projected to cost our city $12 billion over three fiscal years with no policy changes and no further support from the State and federal governments. Our compassion may be limitless, but our resources are not. This is the budget reality we face if we don’t get the additional support we need. Without immediate assistance from our state and federal partners, we will continue to see heartbreaking scenes like the one that occurred outside the Roosevelt last week.”

To avoid spending $12 billion over three fiscal years that New York City outlined, the city named a series of steps that could be taken, such as implementing a statewide decompression strategy to ensure each county helps with the humanitarian crisis, increase the number of state-run sites, provide additional funding to help the city with costs already incurred by the crisis, expedite work authorizations for asylum seekers so they can secure employment more quickly, declare state of emergency to handle the crisis at the border, among others.

The city’s cost estimates are based on the number of asylum seeker households in its care. The census has grown steadily over time and has accelerated since the expiration of Title 42 in May 2023. Today, there are more than 25,600 households in city care or more than 57,300 asylum seekers, nearly 6,500 households per above the city’s previous forecast. With updated costs averaging $383 per night, without adding a single additional person to the census, the city forecasts the new cost to be nearly $3.6 billion in the current fiscal year.

However, based on city models, there is evidence that a high rate of growth will continue into the future, with the sheltered asylum seeker population averaging nearly 33,860 homes per night this fiscal year, driving up costs dramatically to more than $4.7 billion.

In FY 25, the city anticipates the average daily household count will grow to nearly 43,880, or more than 100,000 people in city care, at a cost of just over $6.1 billion.

Also, as the census increases, so do the costs. The city spent $292 million on asylum seeker costs during the month of July 2023, 15 percent more than what was spent in June 2023.

As the asylum seeker population has grown faster than anticipated and housing and care costs have risen, the city now anticipates spending nearly $11 billion in FY24 and FY25: $4.7 billion in FY24 and $6.1 billion in FY25, respectively. This figure is nearly triple the city’s previous estimate of $3.9 billion for the two fiscal years, which is funded in the city’s financial plan. This means that without additional state and federal support, the city will need to add another $7 billion to the financial plan this year and next to meet rapidly expanding needs.