New York City hotels housing migrants have received more than $1 billion in taxpayer funding since converting their buildings into migrant shelters.
New York City is spending an average of $156 a night for hotel rooms to house migrants, with some rooms costing the city more than $300 a night, the report said. Report from the New York Post.
The city has spent about $4.88 billion on the migrant crisis over the past few years, with $1.98 billion of that going to housing, according to the report. Some of the roughly $2 billion spent on housing has gone to city shelters, but about 80% of the shelters the city uses are motels and inns, according to internal documents obtained by the New York Post.
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Asylum seekers line up in front of New York City’s historic Roosevelt Hotel, which has been converted into a city-run shelter for newly arrived immigrant families. (Selcuk Acar/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The city has reportedly signed multimillion-dollar deals with several New York City hotels, including a $5.13 million-per-month deal with the Row NYC hotel in Midtown Manhattan, while the Crowne Plaza JFK in South Jamaica, Queens, has a $2 million-per-month contract for 335 rooms.
The trend hasn’t gone unnoticed by business owners around the hotels, who complain that buildings once filled with customers who flooded local businesses are now filled with immigrants.
“Our tax dollars are going to pay for immigration, so where are we going to get our money,” William Chandler, manager of the Iron Bar across from the Row Hotel, told the New York Post. “How are we going to function as a business?”
Crime scene tape is set off at the scene of a stabbing outside the Roosevelt Hotel, a shelter for migrants in New York City. (Peter Gerber)
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Still, New York City continues to sign contracts with facilities to accommodate the influx of migrants. In September, it extended its contract with the Hotel Association of New York City (HANYC) for three years for $1.3 billion. In January, it signed a $76.69 million contract with HANYC to provide “last resort” shelter for migrants in 15 hotels in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx through July.
Local watchdog groups said the deals were hurting taxpayers.
“The immigration crisis has taken a huge toll on state and local finances, and housing is where taxpayers are suffering the most,” Ken Girardin, research director at the watchdog Empire Public Policy Center, told the New York Post.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams (AP Photo/Peter K. Afriye, File)
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The trend has also been criticized by Republican City Council Member Joan Arriola, who argues the hotels were built for tourism, “not to protect the hordes of people who cross the border every day.”
“These places were supposed to be economic boosts for this city, but instead they have become a net loss and a huge expense,” Arriola said.
The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
