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CEOs of companies getting $5 billion for NYC migrant care skip meeting designed to grill them
By
Arya Sundaram
Published Sep 21, 2023
Modified Sep 21, 2023
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Spencer Platt/Getty Images
By
Arya Sundaram
Published Sep 21, 2023
Modified Sep 21, 2023
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New York City Council members grilled Adams administration officials in a heated probe on Thursday afternoon, asking whether the city is doing enough to vet the contractors slated to rake in more than $5 billion to shelter and care for newly arrived migrants.
Only three of the roughly 200 such contracts had a competitive bidding process, according to an analysis by the Council Oversight and Investigations Division. And the majority, 125 contracts, were fast-tracked through an emergency contracting system, bypassing the regular approval and review process.
“With this stream of new arrivals showing no signs of stopping, at what point do we stop treating this as a temporary emergency and contracting under looser emergency rules?” Oversight Committee Chair Gale Brewer said.
Seven executives from the top companies and nonprofits hired were invited to testify, but they didn't show up. Several councilmembers — including Brewer and contracts committee chair Julie Won — alleged they were told to skip the meeting by the Adams administration. A spokesperson for the administration said that was not the case.
"We did not instruct any of our contractors not to appear to testify at the hearing, and we did not violate any charter provisions," City Hall spokesperson Kayla Mamalek told Gothamist in a statement.
Won listed each of the invited executives’ names, titles, and the price tag of each of their organizations’ multi-million-dollar contracts.
Agency leaders present at the hearing, the czars of the city’s response to the influx of migrants, fiercely defended their contracting process. Though more migrants continue to arrive — more than a year has passed since the first chartered migrant bus arrived from Texas — officials said the flow of migrants at any given time has continued to remain unpredictable.
The expedited emergency timeline has been necessary to meet the urgent demand, they said, and they claimed they maintained a thorough review of the applicant pool. When possible, the city relied on existing contractors already hired by the city, they testified.
"We're still going through a robust vendor selection process," city Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol said. "We're still getting final approval.”
Many of the more than 200 emergency sites the city has erected in recent years are in hotels, which have councilmembers and advocates have criticized for high costs and lack of laundry and cooking facilities. The city is working on transitioning to longer-term sites, officials said — but that process could take years.
Molly Wasow Park, the commissioner of the Department of Social Services, which oversees the city’s homeless shelter system, said her agency is renewing “a number” of emergency shelter contracts for three-year terms it determines other appropriate locations moving forward.
“The goal is not to continue to use hotels long-term,” Park said.
“We need to continue to respond in real time,” Park later added. “At the same time, we are doubling down and planning for long-term strategies, but those long-term strategies won't be in place overnight.”
But the officials’ assurances appeared to do little to satiate the councilmembers, who continued to press them for answers.
Won said more than half of the shelters in her district remain empty, only surrounded by National Guard members, because the nonprofits hired haven’t received advance payment, or have yet to ramp up their capacity.
"You tell me that it's moving faster, but in some cases it's not," Won told officials.
A recurring name was top contractor DocGo, a medical services provider that manages more than two dozen shelters across the state, which Adams has signaled he will continue to use over the comptroller’s objections. The company is being investigated by the state attorney general over allegations of mistreatment of migrants in its care. DocGo’s CEO resigned over the weekend, after he admitted his biography falsely stated he had a master’s degree.
Councilmembers continued to balk at what they called overpayment for bulk services. For example, the city pays DocGo $170 per hotel room per night, or about $5,100 per month. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development said they agreed to the price tag to accommodate the higher hotel room costs in New York City.
This story has been updated with additional comment from City Hall.
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Arya Sundaram
Arya is a reporter covering race and justice. Got a tip? Email: [email protected] or reach Arya on Signal at 512-650-8767.
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