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NYC slated to get less than $8 million in initial migrant aid from feds

By
Bernadette Hogan and
Nolan Hicks
Published Dec. 28, 2022
Updated Dec. 28, 2022, 9:14 p.m. ET

Help is trickling in.

New York is set to receive the first federal dollars to help pay for costs incurred during the ongoing migrant crisis, but the amount awarded is less than 1% of City Hall’s total $1 billion request, The Post has learned.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency confirmed this week that the Big Apple was finally awarded $7.89 million on Dec. 22 to help cover some of its initial expenses from the massive summertime migrant influx.

“This is the first time we’ve received funding from FEMA for the migrant crisis,” a City Hall spokesman told The Post late Tuesday. “[T]his funding is an initial allocation from the city’s November application, and we hope to receive further awards. NYC applied for $1B which is the total projected costs for the city’s fiscal year.”

The money comes courtesy of a last-minute bump in federal funding allocated to FEMA’s Emergency Food and Shelter program for 2022.

A total of $75 million was added to the program and New York City’s award was the single largest dispensed from the fund this go-round.

Local governments like New York are depending on the pot of money to help fund agencies and nonprofits providing services and housing to recent arrivals from the southern border, many of whom are seeking asylum after fleeing from violence and poverty-plagued countries like Venezuela.

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The $7.89 million will be used to reimburse the city for spending on the crisis prior to Oct. 1, according to City Hall.

Officials say they are holding out hope that the city will receive a second — and much larger — slug of money in the coming weeks thanks to new funds set aside by Congress in a recently passed $1.7 trillion spending bill. That omnibus measure is separate from the FEMA Emergency Food and Shelter program.

As of Dec. 26, City Hall has recorded 34,100 migrants in the five boroughs — with over 23,200 of those currently in shelters. There are currently 65 operating emergency shelters and four larger Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers, known as “mega-shelters.”

So far, City Hall has estimated spending roughly $250 million on accommodating the migration surge.

That figure was included in a letter from Mayor Eric Adams to City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams this week, in which Hizzoner requested that all 51 councilmembers give up as much as half of their funding for in-district grants to pay for the migrant spending — a request the council furiously rejected.  

The $7.89 million will be used to reimburse the city for spending on the crisis prior to Oct. 1, according to City Hall. Matthew McDermott

A day before sending the letter, Mayor Adams warned that if he did not get significant help from state and federal officials, “every service” in the city would be impacted.

At the time, the mayor was looking ahead to the potential lifting of the Trump-era Title 42 health policy — which the Supreme Court ordered kept in place Tuesday while it hears arguments from Republican-led states fighting to keep the rule on the books.

While the city has asked for an initial $1 billion in assistance, city Comptroller Brad Lander has said the price tag could triple if the crisis continues — potentially reaching $3 billion over three years.

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