New York City spends an average of $387 a day to house an immigrant family in taxpayer-funded shelters, according to the latest data from City Hall.
The figure, known as “cumulative per diem,” is the average amount the city has spent per day on housing and food for each immigrant household each month since the beginning of the crisis in spring 2022.
As the city continues to desperately try to cut spending on asylum seekers amid the crisis, daily charges have been gradually falling, with about 64,800 migrants in custody as of last week.
February’s $387 was down $5 from October 2023, when there were about 65,400 immigrants in city care. From that month, the cumulative average began to fall steadily, reaching $391 in November, $390 in December, and $388 in January.
City Hall is banking on cost-cutting measures implemented by Mayor Eric Adams’ administration to combat the crisis, which is expected to push construction costs in the Big Apple to $10 billion by next fiscal year.
“As New York City grapples with a national humanitarian crisis, Mayor Adams has laid out a plan to save taxpayers billions of dollars in the past two months. The numbers show our efforts are working. A City Hall spokesperson told the Post on Tuesday. “By next summer, he expects to save $2.3 billion.”
In response to the ever-increasing costs of the immigration crisis, Mr. Hitzoner controversially ordered all city departments last November to cut spending by an initial 5%, then another 5% in January. was brewing.
And last month, it abruptly canceled an expected third round of 5% cuts, citing “better-than-expected” cuts in revenue and immigration spending.
Based on these savings, City Hall now projects the average daily cost of sheltering asylum seekers to be $386 in 2024, and to fall further to $352 in 2025.
“We continue to take action by implementing the administration’s strategy to manage the population we serve and reduce per diem costs, and we look forward to additional support from our state and federal partners,” City Hall officials said in a statement. I will continue to advocate that.”
Still, the per diem cost of immigrants is significantly higher than what the city pays to house its homeless population. Molly Wassow Park, Secretary of the Department of Human Services, highlighted this fact due to the high cost of housing asylum seekers in hotels.
“Commercial hotels are incredibly expensive as a means of providing shelter,” Wasow Park said after being asked about immigration costs during Monday’s City Council budget hearing.
“The overall daily allowance…for single adults, the average daily allowance is $145.13.”
The committee added: “We absolutely think we will see a change in asylum numbers as a result of the drive to control costs.”
