New York, New York Is a Helluva Mess.
The $125 per illegal number was bandied about as compensation for eventually sheltering them in homes as a natural progression moving that population out from churches, etc.
…The nonprofit New York Disaster Interfaith Services plans to make available about 50 religious spaces for overnight shelter for up to 19 single adult men at each location per night.
The program will cost the city $125 a person, per day — about a third of what it reportedly cost taxpayers to house migrants at homeless shelters or hotels.
Sounds like a lot of money, but I guess to the city and state, it’s a huge savings over what they’re spending now.
…New York City initially planned to spend about $12.3 billion on migrants from 2022 to 2025, with migrant care costs, which were unplanned, making up 2.5% to 4.3% of the city’s spending in fiscal year 2023.
“That, I think, made it real,” says Chishti. “That this is not going to be sort of a nice Statue of Liberty handshake in welcoming immigrants. This has a real physical cost.”
Adams later reduced spending estimates to $10 billion in the 2024 budget, citing higher tax revenues and better fiscal management. But that left some city councilmembers and immigration advocates puzzled over what exactly, had changed.
Down at the human level, the city is spending $396 a day on each migrant coming through the shelter system, according to the City Comptroller’s office. These costs include shelter, health care, Medicaid enrollment, vaccinations, school enrollment, legal orientation, and more, although a detailed breakdown of costs was not available to the comptroller as of December 2023. There are indirect costs, too, with a general strain on public services, the costs associated with integrating the new arrivals into the labor market, and the impact on communities.
There hasn’t been much movement or news how plans are proceeding on that front yet. But it’s interesting that hizzoner piped up about the idea just as Gov Kathy Hochul and the legislature’s Plus One ADU (Additional Dwelling Unit) legislation started humming along. That’s where the state gives a low or moderate-income homeowner up to $125,000 (plus all sorts of bennies like expedited permitting help, etc.) for upgrading an existing structure, converting a garage or attic, or just plain building a tiny house in the backyard into a habitable abode. For…gosh, whoever might need to live there. And if the homeowner wants to rent it out after the state foots part – or all – of the bill, why, that’s okay, too.
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h/t SG