Beleaguered New York Mayor Eric Adams has been told to get a grip as the bill for housing the city’s migrants soars towards $2.3 billion.
City Hall is warning that 14,000 hotel rooms will be needed until at least the end of next year when the total cost of providing for the new arrivals will reach a staggering $5.76 billion.
More than 200,000 migrants have arrived in the city since the start of 2022, many bussed north by GOP governors determined to make Democrat cities share the burden of the crisis on the southern border.
And more than 150 hotels are still being used to house the influx at an average cost of $352 a room each night.
‘The taxpayers can’t pay for this indefinitely,’ Nicole Gelinas of the Manhattan Institute think tank told the NY Post. ‘We should stop using hotels as shelters by the end of the year.’
The figures emerged as the City began looking for a contractor to ensure it secured the thousands of rooms needed going forward.
‘The New York City Department of Homeless Services is seeking to continue the City Sanctuary Facility program by procuring a vendor who can assist in acquiring the use of large scale commercial hotels and hotel management services to help address the current emergency,’ the agency announced.
It came after City Comptroller Brad Lander revealed that one contractor, DocGo Inc, had billed the city $1.7 million for 9,874 vacant hotel rooms it had claimed were housing migrants during May and June last year.
The New York City Hotel Association is currently paid $100,000 a month to manage three migrant housing contracts and said it would apply for the new one.
‘We have five full time employees specifically for fulfilling the contractual obligations, besides work done by regular HANYC staff for the contract, in addition to their normal duties,’ said CEO, Vijay Dandapani.
‘We will be filling in the request.’
Hellbound and Down 