Gov. Kathy Hochul comes to New York City's rescue with budget proposal money for asylum seeker crisis
NEW YORK -- Gov. Kathy Hochul is proposing a new budget that is music to the ears of Mayor Eric Adams. It ramps up new funding for New York City's asylum seeker crisis to the tune of several billion dollars.
President Joe Biden may have turned a deaf ear to Adams' plea for migrant funding, but not Hochul. She has allocated money to run shelters and care for the people that keep arriving in the Big Apple.
"We must support the city of New York in this moment," Hochul said.
READ MORE: Asylum seekers evicted from New York City shelters wait outside in cold to be relocated
The skies may have been cloudy across New York state on Tuesday, but there were pennies from heaven for a certain mayor as the governor made sure that even though she faces a $4.3 billion budget gap, there are funds to help New York City cope with its asylum seeker crisis in her new spending plan.
The $233 billion budget includes $2.4 billion for the crisis statewide.
READ MORE: New York City implementing curfew at 4 asylum seeker shelters in response to community complaints
It will help pay for some 3,000 shelter beds at the existing shelters at Floyd Bennett Field, Creedmor Psychiatric Center in Queens, and the tent city on Randalls Island.
It also provides:
- Legal and case management services
- Health services, including testing for communicable diseases
- Programs to relocate migrants to other parts of the state and provide rent subsidies
- Expenses related to the deployment of the National Guard
"We're doing this not just because it's the right thing to do for the migrants and for the city of New York. We also know that companies won't do business in New York if there are thousands of people sleeping on the streets or the quality of life is dramatically impacted because the city is forced to cut essential services," Hochul said.
The proposal, which officially kicks off a 10-week negotiation period with lawmakers, includes a raft of other proposals including:
- State police teams to combat shoplifting and a commercial security tax credit of up to $3,000 for small businesses to protect themselves
- Extending mayoral control of schools for four years
- A blue buffer zone program for the state to buy homes in flood planes
- Capital funds to extend the Second Avenue subway west to Broadway
- $250 million to help build housing on unused state land at transit stations and prisons
Mayoral control of schools promises to be a sticking point with the Legislature. Hochul also insisted now is not the time to raise income taxes because it causes people to flee the state. Some in the Legislature want to increase taxes of the rich.
"So we can slow down the out migration that has resulted in the loss of $6 billion in tax receipts this year, alone. We could have used that money," Hochul said.
