Mayor Adams’ Administration reached an agreement with the Hotel Association of New York City to house up to 5,000 migrants. The agreement is reportedly worth $275 million, working out to approximately $55,000 per migrant. The agreement was reached as the city is currently in a challenging situation that has been labeled an “emergency.”
Hotel Association President Vijay Dandapani said there will be about 55 of the company’s smaller hotels to house the migrants. Entire hotels will be made available for migrants and Dandapani said that the number of hotels and rooms would likely adjust depending on the city’s needs. While Dandapani said that migrants would be housed in some of the Manhattan hotels, they would not be in the larger flagship hotels. He did, however, make it clear that there is a possibility that the situation could change. Migrants would also be housed in hotels in the outer-boroughs.
The Hotel Association of New York City represents close to 300 hotels with 80,000 rooms. It is not the first time New York City has reached an agreement with hotels, having previously agreed to house the homeless during the COVID-19 pandemic. The city’s Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers were also providing migrants with shelter at four hotels, which are all fully occupied at the time of
A Continued Challenge
The continued arrival of migrants into New York City has proved to be a challenge for Mayor Adams and his administration. It is a crisis that LittleAfrica News has reported on multiple occasions. Mayor Adams has repeatedly called for financial assistance from both the New York State and federal governments.
Mayor Adams has repeatedly mentioned that the city would need an extra $1 billion in its budget to cater to migrants. On Thursday, January 12, Jacques Jiha, the city’s budget director, said New York had spent $366 million aiding migrants since last year.
“Since last spring, the city has stepped up to welcome approximately 40,000 asylum seekers, providing them with shelter, food, and connections to a host of resources. We have opened 74 emergency shelters and four humanitarian relief centers at breakneck speed, and done this almost entirely on our own,” Mayor Adams said in a statement. “The absence of sorely needed federal immigration reform should not mean that this humanitarian crisis falls only on the shoulders of cities. We need support and aid from our federal and state partners and look forward to working together to meet this crisis head-on,” he said.
