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City Hall continues to stonewall on migrant counts as calls for transparency grow
By
Elizabeth Kim
Published May 31, 2023
Modified May 31, 2023
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By
Elizabeth Kim
Published May 31, 2023
Modified May 31, 2023
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City Comptroller Brad Lander is demanding that Mayor Eric Adams release more detailed data on the migrant population, nearly a month after City Hall abruptly stopped providing breakdowns of where the migrants were staying across different types of shelters.
In a letter to the mayor sent this week, Lander pressed the city to provide his office with a weekly report, beginning next Monday, that shows the number of migrants in city-run shelters, emergency sites, so-called “respite” centers intended for temporary stay, and hotels the city is paying for outside the five boroughs.
“This data is critical to performing our office’s charter-mandated oversight duties and ensuring the public understands the magnitude of this crisis, its cost and the scale of the necessary response,” the comptroller wrote.
Lander described the city’s current reporting practice of providing rounded estimates of migrants without more details around where they were staying as “wholly insufficient.”
The battle over data and transparency comes as Adams tries to alter “right-to-shelter” rules that have governed the city’s response to homelessness for nearly 40 years. Lander’s call is also part of growing criticism over the mayor’s handling of the migrant arrivals. In a recent interview with The City, Adrienne Adams, the City Council speaker, described the administration as being in “panic mode” and failing to collaborate with other lawmakers.
Assemblymember Harvey Epstein told Gothamist he was turned away by officials on Sunday when he tried to visit a migrant respite center in the East Village. Epstein said he was blocked from viewing a food distribution area even though he had identified himself as an elected official.
“It was a surprising experience,” Epstein said.
The lawmaker said he wanted to get a better understanding of what the migrants needed. He added that he had informed City Hall of his planned visit.
“I just wanted to see what is happening in my district,” he said. “Whether they are there for one month, one week or one year, we just want to be helpful to people. We want to do problem solving.”
Fabien Levy, the mayor's press secretary, disputed Epstein's account.
"Unfortunately, after being told this past Sunday was not an option to visit a specific respite site, this assemblymember still showed up, forced his way in, and took photos without authorization and without any concern for the impact on the people staying there or the hardworking city workers who have shouldered this burden for a year," he said in a statement. "As our team made clear to the assemblymember, we would be happy to schedule a visit for him in advance and have already done so.”
The incident reflects a growing concern over how the migrant facilities are being run as city officials say they are being stretched thin. The mayor has argued that the escalating number of migrants has strained the city’s ability to fulfill its right-to-shelter mandate, which requires that a bed be given to anyone who requests one. Last week, he announced that the city would seek relief from a 40-year-old court order that guarantees the right to shelter.
Adams and administration officials have also continued to press the Biden administration over a lack of sufficient federal funding. Earlier this month, it was announced that the city would receive a little over $30 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The sum represented a small fraction of the $350 million the administration had applied for.
Toward that end, Lander is asking the city to supply him with additional data, including the average length of stay for asylum-seekers broken down by type of shelter as well as the average daily cost of different shelters.
“In order to make the most compelling case for federal (and additional state) reimbursement, we need a clear accounting of all costs,” he wrote.
During a briefing at City Hall on Wednesday, city officials reported that more than 45,800 migrants were in the city’s care and that the city’s total shelter population had eclipsed 90,000 residents.
When asked why the city had stopped sharing more detailed data, Anne Williams-Isom, the city’s deputy mayor for health and human services, said the city was providing updates twice a week to elected officials.
She did not provide an explanation for why the reporting had changed. She said people at emergency shelter sites were being counted but they were moving out “pretty quickly.”
“So we want to just make sure that we're being very accurate with our numbers,” she said, adding, “we're doing the best that we can to make sure that the data is accurate, and that we are making sure that we're being transparent with the public.”
City Hall did not provide a response to Lander’s letter, but instead referred back to Williams-Isom’s comments.
Adams last week said the city was “trying to be as transparent as possible," but suggested that the administration was challenged by people “coming in so many different directions,” referring to migrants traveling by buses and airplanes.
“It’s a moving target,” he added.
This story has been updated with a statement from the mayor's office
Tagged
Asylum Seekers
eric adams
homeless
Elizabeth Kim
Elizabeth Kim is a reporter on the People and Power desk who covers mayoral power. She previously covered the pandemic, housing, redevelopment and public spaces. A native of Queens, she speaks fluent Mandarin. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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