The migrant crisis, which already has New York teetering on edge, is now projected to cost the city more than initially expected.
According to the New York Post, New York City’s spending on hotels and services for migrants will hit the $4.3 billion mark by the end of this year — 48 percent higher than previous estimates.
As the outlet reports, Mayor Eric Adams and the city government have revealed these costs reluctantly while retracting crucial details in order to avoid disclosing the full extent of the migrants’ cost to taxpayers:
The city has finally, begrudgingly handed over its contract for the Roosevelt Hotel, after months of delay — and the document offers more questions than answers.
The Roosevelt Hotel, smack in Midtown, is Adams’ flagship migrant facility.
… So what is the city paying for the Roosevelt’s 1,025 rooms?
The document HHC [the Health and Hospitals Corp.] finally provided, after months of delay, blacks out the “per room per day” amount, citing the Roosevelt’s “trade secrets.”
Such information, HHC says, “if disclosed, would cause substantial injury to the competitive position of the subject enterprise.”
The city government’s claim that it cannot disclose the “per room per day” amount — or even the number of rooms contracted — is questionable, given that hotels normally advertise their rates publicly anyway.
And as the Post notes, the Roosevelt Hotel has fallen into major disarray since becoming a migrant shelter in May, with graffiti now covering the outside walls, as well as blacked-out windows, overflowing trash containers, and illegal mopeds haphazardly obstructing walkways.
Despite the fact that the Roosevelt has essentially become a homeless shelter, the city did not have the homeless-services department or even a bona fide agency sign the contract. Rather, the Adams administration used a city-controlled Health and Hospitals Corp. (an independent company rather than a city agency) — a move that allows the contract to evade the scrutiny of the comptroller.
Back in May, the Pakistani press reported on the Roosevelt Hotel’s room rates (the hotel is owned by the Pakistani government). Per the reporting, which was presumably based upon information obtained from the Pakistani government, the rates are $200 the first year, $205 the second and $210 the third.
These rates are higher than what might be expected given circumstances unique to the hotel: The city itself pays for services that would normally be covered by the hotel, such as security and administrative work. Moreover, a number of cost-saving measures are taken, such as cleaning rooms three times a week instead of every day.
The city’s refusal to disclose the number of rooms being contracted and used makes it impossible for taxpayers to know whether public funds are being responsibly used. Taxpayers are footing the bill, after all, for all available rooms at the Roosevelt. But because the Adams administration will not say how many families are staying there or what turnover is like, the city could be paying for a mostly empty hotel and taxpayers would be completely in the dark.
In an effort to rein in the perceived lack of accountability, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander recently stripped Adams’ emergency migrant contracting powers, meaning the mayor can no longer make deals with contractors related to migrant services without prior approval from the comptroller’s office.
According to New York’s Daily News:
In a Monday evening statement, Lander’s spokeswoman Chloe Chik said the review had found “extensive failures to report subcontractors despite problems that surfaced with many of them.”
“In response, we concluded that the most prudent course for the city’s fiscal health and integrity would be to require City Hall to seek prior approval before using emergency procurement on a case-by-case basis,” Chik added. “We will continue to conduct fast and thorough reviews of emergency contracts.”
Adams’ office argues that without the prior approval, the migrant crisis will be exacerbated, as the city will be delayed in obtaining food and shelter for new arrivals. This move from the comptroller heightens growing tensions between Lander and Adams. The former is a progressive Democrat, while Adams is seen as closer to center-left.
Lander isn’t the only prominent Democrat whom Adams has alienated amid the migrant situation. As The New American previously reported, Adams, once a close ally of Joe Biden, now finds his relationship with the White House strained due to two factors — the mayor’s hard-line rhetoric on migration in the wake of the Biden-precipitated migrant crisis, and a slew of scandals that have landed on his lap.
The feds are currently looking at whether the Adams campaign colluded with the Turkish government to get Turkish money in its campaign coffers in exchange for making the moves necessary to fast-track the opening of a high-rise consulate in time for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to cut the ribbon on the facility.
And last month, Adams was slapped with allegations of having sexually assaulted a co-worker 30 years ago while he was in the New York City Police Department.
Biden and Adams reportedly haven’t spoken in nearly a year. In May, Adams was dropped from the president’s National Advisory Board. The two didn’t even meet when Biden was in New York City in September for the United Nations General Assembly.
Clearly, things aren’t going well for Adams — and the secrecy surrounding the costs of migrant lodging are likely his office’s attempt to plug holes in the sinking ship of his administration.
