Mayor Eric Adams’ administration this week asked religious leaders to open their doors to some of the thousands of immigrants currently in the city’s custody, the newspaper reported.
The government sent a letter to religious groups across the Big Apple, asking for volunteers to provide daytime shelter for 150 migrants in exchange for up to $54,000 a month.
It also asked the religious center if it would be willing to house 19 other migrants overnight for up to $35,500, according to a letter obtained by the newspaper.
The first shelter in Queens will open this week at the American Rabbinical Seminary Yeshiva Chofetz Chayim and will provide beds and daily meals for 15 single adults, city officials confirmed.
The government hopes the measure will help ease the housing burden for the roughly 65,000 immigrants currently in city care, with the crisis costing around $10 billion by next fiscal year. It is expected that it will cost.
City Hall claims a faith-based shelter system would be much cheaper than current emergency contracts. The average nightly housing cost for last summer’s migrants was $383, and single adults and families are scattered across the city in hotels, shelters and tent cities.
An Adams spokesperson confirmed the goal is to have religious institutions provide 50 night shelters and five daytime centers for migrants in the coming weeks.
“Our response not only required a whole-of-government effort, but also included collaboration with nonprofits, community organizations, volunteers, and the faith community,” said City Hall spokeswoman Kayla Mamalek. he said when asked about this initiative.
“As Mayor Adams said, it is not enough to be parishioners, we must also be practitioners, and the congregations that participate in our faith bed program are doing just that. Masu.”
The city will provide up to $50,000 a month to cover background checks, laundry and other services for caretakers, shelter coordinators and workers so the religious center can open its doors to immigrants from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day. I’m willing to pay $4000.
Houses of worship that house immigrants overnight from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. will be compensated up to $35,500 per month, or $65 per person per night, for similar operating costs.
The centers would need to have the ability to provide showers (six cubicles for daytime care and at least two cubicles for nighttime care) or additional space for food preparation and for migrants to eat.
Daytime centers receive $5 per person for lunch and snacks, while night shelters receive just over $6.50 for dinner and breakfast, or $3.27 per meal.
By comparison, the city’s controversial no-bid contract with mobile health service provider DocGo pays $11 per meal, much of which is thrown away by immigrants who say the food is terrible. Ta.
Last month, Mr. Adams set a goal of reducing housing costs for immigrants by an additional 10%, on top of the previous 20% reduction that City Hall had already achieved.
But Maspeth’s faith-based shelter has already faced pushback from local councilor Bob Holden. Who directed the movement? “It’s completely unacceptable.”
“It’s absolutely shameful that our city wastes millions of dollars on people who shouldn’t be here while our veterans and civilians are left homeless and forgotten,” Queens Democrat was furious.
“City Hall has ignored faith-based approaches to their own housing for years, but has had no problem rolling out the red carpet for immigrants,” he added. “What a travesty.”
