Asylum seekers to cost New York City roughly $600M
Estimate comes from the Independent Budget Office
At the request of Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella, City Councilmembers Joseph Borelli, David Carr and Kamillah Hanks, the Independent Budget Office examined the costs that the city will incur to provide services to asylum seekers in New York City.
As of early November, the Adams administration reported that 23,800 asylum seekers have arrived here, in most cases looking to escape economic and civil unrest in their home countries — Venezuela in particular. While some of these new arrivals may relocate elsewhere, many remain in the city.
- Based on the number of asylum seekers who had arrived as of early November, IBO estimates that the city will spend at least $596 million over the course of a year. These include costs related to shelter stays, public schools, basic health services, and some legal assistance. Some of these costs, particularly those related to shelter, will fall into the city’s next fiscal year.
- The total cost of city services provided to this population cannot be estimated with certainty, as the number of people arriving and remaining in the city continues to evolve. Where possible, IBO provides the per-person or per-household cost of services. This can be used to project total costs once there are better estimates of the total number of asylum seekers expected to require services from the city.
- IBO also examined other sources of funding that the city may be able to tap into to help pay for these unanticipated expenses.
Read the full analysis here.
Brooklyn Boro
View MoreNew York City’s most populous borough, Brooklyn, is home to nearly 2.6 million residents. If Brooklyn were an independent city it would be the fourth largest city in the United States. While Brooklyn has become the epitome of ‘cool and hip’ in recent years, for those that were born here, raised families here and improved communities over the years, Brooklyn has never been ‘uncool’.