The tragedy of the border crisis continues to rear itself in New York City, which has been buckling under the weight of trying to handle its share of the migrant influx. Recently, the problem has contributed to a wider homelessness crisis in the city.
The Center Square reported on some data released by the city comptroller last month. According to the comptroller, the number of homeless within the city jumped from 46,675 in fiscal year 2022 to 80,724 in fiscal year 2023. For reference, the city’s fiscal year begins on July 1.
In addition, the number of families in the Department of Homeless Services and seeking shelter for the first time jumped considerably. The report shows a 254% leap from fiscal year 2022 to 2023.
All of this coincides with a report released by the comptroller in August on this same topic. The Department of Homeless Services opened 135 emergency sites between June of last year and May of this year to accommodate more than 22,000 asylum seekers.
That report also shed some light on who these services were benefitting. For instance, in Fiscal Year 2022 families accounted for 28% of all entrants into shelters. Single adults “represented the largest population…making up 72% of the entrants into the system.”
Such a crisis in the city has led to discussions and questions about how much this program costs. The comptroller reports that general fund expenditures increased by 38% from fiscal year 2022 to 2023.
Expenditures currently sit at $3.5 billion, according to the comptroller’s data. New York expects the cost to go up to $12 billion over the next three fiscal years alone.
In response to all of this data, New York City Mayor Eric Adams is making the crisis the central issue of his administration. In a media response, Adams said the following:
Since the large influx of asylum seekers to our city began last spring, we have warned New Yorkers that every city service could be impacted by this crisis if we did not get the support we needed. Coupling the costs of a national crisis that has fallen onto New York City with COVID funding that is running out and reduced revenue growth, our city’s financial future may be at risk if we do not act.
It appears as though many of Adams’ Democrat colleagues are in agreement. According to a new survey from the Sienna College Research Institute, 75% of New York Democrats view the migrant crisis in their state as a “very serious” or “somewhat serious” problem.
Adams had previously mentioned in September that the city was regularly receiving about 10,000 migrants a month.