Mayor Eric Adams: My fellow New Yorkers, immigration is the New York City story. It is the American story. It is a story of those who board its ships to reach these shores, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free.
For centuries, immigrants have made that remarkable journey, that leap of faith, searching for freedom, safety, a shot at the American Dream. And the asylum seekers who have arrived in our city since last spring are writing a new chapter in this timeless story.
But as I declared nearly a year ago, we are facing an unprecedented state of emergency. The immigration system in this nation is broken. It has been broken for decades. Today, New York City has been left to pick up the pieces. Since last year, nearly 100,000 asylum seekers have arrived in our city asking for shelter. Let me repeat. Almost 100,000 men, women, and children have asked for a place to stay. That's almost the population of Albany, New York. And for more than a year, thousands of people across this administration, and more than 100 community-based organizations, have worked tirelessly to ensure that every person who has arrived here gets the opportunity to build their New York City dream.
They do not have the authorization to work, so we have to provide shelter. We have supplied food and access to healthcare. We have enrolled children in schools. We have opened almost 200 emergency sites, including more than a dozen large scale humanitarian relief centers. And we have assisted migrants with asylum applications.
But we are past our breaking point. New Yorkers' compassion may be limitless, but our resources are not. And our partners at the state and federal levels know this. We continue to face impossible decisions about allocating our resources, and that means a lose-lose for our most vulnerable New Yorkers as well as those seeking asylum.
We saw the effects clearly last week outside the Roosevelt Hotel. Adult asylum seekers were sleeping on the pavement because our shelter system was full. I went again and again to speak with the men there. It broke my heart. It breaks this city's heart. Asylum seekers come here in search of a dream, not a nightmare. They come to work, to contribute to our city and our nation's success. But the scenes outside the Roosevelt may sadly become more common if we don't get the support we need.
Our city is already facing a severe housing shortage, on top of trying to find space for our new arrivals. We have repeatedly asked state lawmakers to assist in building more affordable homes, but they have been unable to pass any meaningful legislation. And the costs have grown from our earlier estimates as more people continue to arrive. This is not sustainable.
Let me put it in perspective for New Yorkers. For each family seeking asylum through the city's care, we spend an average of $383 per night to provide shelter, food, medical care, and social services. With more than 57,300 individuals currently in our care, on an average night, it amounts to $9.8 million a day, almost $300 million a month, and nearly $3.6 billion a year.
But this is the floor, not the ceiling. This is only an estimate if the number of migrants in our care stays the same over time. It is clear to us, however, that without policy changes, the number of migrants arriving will continue to grow. This will increase our cost. If we continue down this unsustainable track, with an average of almost 34,000 households a night over the course of just this fiscal year, that will increase cost to $4.7 billion.
Hear me, if things do not change, our new estimates have us spending nearly $5 billion on this crisis in the current fiscal year. That's up from the $1.4 billion we spent last fiscal year. And it nearly equals the budgets of the Sanitation Department, our Parks Department, and the FDNY combined.
And if things do not change, we expect to have more than 100,000 asylum seekers in our care by the end of June, 2025, driving projected spending to $6.1 billion in that fiscal year if we do not change course. That means over the course of three fiscal years, our city is projected to have spent more than $12 billion.
To meet this need, we'll have to add $7 billion to our financial plan. And this is on top of what we previously allocated for the crisis. This is the budgetary reality we are facing if we don't get the additional support we need from the federal and state governments.
This is not just about numbers. This is about people fleeing despair and trauma. I have greeted asylum seekers at the Port Authority. I have slept by their side on the coldest day of the year, and I have sat with a mother whose husband was lost to this crisis. She now faces raising her three children alone.
The city is running out of money, appropriate space, and personnel to care for families like hers. We're grateful to Governor Hochul for all she has done to help our city, but the number of asylum seekers increasing, we need more from our state partners. And I want to thank US Senate Majority Leader Schumer, Democratic Leader Jeffries, and members of the New York City Congressional Delegation for all the efforts at the federal level to get us the support we need.
New Yorkers did not create an international humanitarian crisis, but New Yorkers have been left to deal with this crisis almost entirely on our own. It has been fueled by those in Congress who stand in the way of real immigration reform, by governors who have used vulnerable asylum seekers as political pawns, by the indifference of leaders across the nation.
Now let me be clear, New York City will not abandon our brothers and sisters seeking the American dream. Thanks to the teamwork of so many, both in and outside of government, including our faith based and nonprofit partners, we have done more than any city to provide for so many migrants in such a short period of time. We have met a historic crisis with historic compassion.
And while we are past our breaking point, we will never just slam the door of opportunity. We have had productive conversations with our state and federal partners, and they show real commitment to supporting our efforts, but we need additional resources.
Now, the best way to solve this problem is by all of us working together. The state can support us by taking reasonable actions to ease the burden of our city. We need a statewide decompression strategy to help free up space in our shelter system and reduce the pressure on our city's resources. The state recently announced humanitarian relief centers that they will reimburse us for, but we need more. The state can also allocate more funding to match our needs on the ground. And we are willing to work with every locality across New York State to provide support for asylum seekers because they need to play their part just like Buffalo, White Plains and others have.
If these actions are taken, they will ease the burden on our city's resources and will enable us to reevaluate the impact on our budget. And while many Republicans in Congress may be holding up critical reform, the White House can help us now. I agree with Massachusetts Governor Healey, the federal government must take action. We appreciate them sending a team from the US Department of Homeland Security to New York City to assess the situation this week. There's more they can do, including expediting pathways to work authorizations for asylum seekers. I have heard it directly from all the asylum seekers I've spoken with, they want to work. There's nothing more anti-American than not letting people work. Imagine the boost to our nation's economy if we were to fill the hundreds of thousands of jobs that need workers right now. It's the right thing to do, and it is smart economics.
We're also asking the federal government to declare a state of emergency. This will allow federal funds to be allocated quickly to help address the urgent challenges we face. Additionally, federal government needs to provide more funding to match the reality of the course on the ground.
Finally, we need the federal government to lead a decompression strategy at the border so cities and states across the nation can do their part to shelter asylum seekers. Because cities like New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, and El Paso cannot be left to shoulder a national crisis without the proper aid.
Again, if we don't get the support we need, New Yorkers could be left with a $12 billion bill. So while New York City will continue to lead, it's time the state and federal government step up.
We will continue to do more than any other city or level of government in the nation to accommodate asylum seekers because that's who we are, a city of empathy, of compassion and care. And we know, in the long run, asylum seekers will contribute to our strength, like so many before them. They have already begun to make homes, to give back to their communities, to become New Yorkers.
As President Obama has said, we were once strangers too. 14% of all Americans can trace their heritage to Ellis Island right here in New York Harbor. This city and this nation have been shaped by those who we have welcomed. Immigrants are our friends, our families, our neighbors. They are the hardworking New Yorkers who make life here possible. This is the magic of this city, people of all backgrounds living together in one place. New York City remains a beacon for all who come to our shores. And we will continue to uphold these values and reach out a helping hand to those in need. This is the New York City way. It is time for that to be the American way again.
