A city pilot program doled out as much as $600,000 to move migrant families out of the Big Apple’s packed shelter system, officials confirmed Monday.
The Asylee Moveout Assistance pilot program, launched in December, paid 150 migrant families up to $4,000 each to help them get their own pads — yet another cost to taxpayers even as the city houses more than 65,000 asylum seekers.
“The city is using every tool at its disposal to implement innovative and cost-effective solutions to help recently arrived asylum seekers residing in shelters take the next steps in their journey,” a spokesperson for the city Department of Social Services said in a statement to The Post.
A city pilot program has given 150 migrant families up to $4,000 each to help them move out of overcrowded shelters. Stephen YangThe one-time grants are paid out through city-contracted agencies and targets migrant families with pregnant women who have already picked a new place to live, officials said.
Only one of the 150 families in the program have bounced back to the shelter system, the city claimed.
The pilot program, first reported by Gothamist, also requires the 12 nonprofits now working with the city to track the money — demanding receipts from landlords, moving companies and others involved.
The money isn’t paid to the migrants directly, officials said.
As much as $1,000 of the grant money is earmarked for household supplies.
The move is the latest cost the migrant crunch has brought on the five boroughs, which has seen more than 210,000 asylum seekers from the US border with Mexico flock to the city since spring of 2022.
Local lawmakers slammed the pilot program and its cost to taxpayers.
“This is ridiculous,” said Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island). “But does it finally cut the cord at least or are we still on the hook even after we pay this vig?”
Council Member Robert Holden called the migrant payments “a complete slap in the face to every New Yorker” in a statement to The Post.
“So we pay people to come here, house them, feed them, provide legal services, protect them from ICE when they commit crimes—and now we’re paying them to leave? I guess City Hall thinks money grows on trees.”
“The city continues to throw money on the problem instead of changing the laws they created which obligate them to spend these funds,” said Assemblyman Michael Tannousis, also Staten Island’s Republican Party chairman.
“The taxpayers are footing the bill while struggling to put food on the table for their families because of the continuously rising cost of living. It is no wonder that people continue to flee in droves to more affordable places to live and raise their families,” said Tannousis.
City Hall officials said taxpayers have doled out more than $5 billion since the crisis began, with more than 65,000 migrants still holed up in shelters.
A massive tent city as Randall’s Island was erected to help the Big Apple cope with the massive wave of migrants arriving in the five boroughs. Christopher Sadowski
More than 65,000 migrants are currently being housed by the city, with some of the facilities raising concerns among neighbors. Michael NagleTwo massive facilities erected to cope with the overflow — tent cities at Randall’s Island and at a former federal airfield at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn — have drawn the ire of local residents.
City officials said the pilot program could be expanded, costing even more money.
“One hundred fifty households have moved out of shelter and benefitted from this pilot over the the last seven months,” the DSS spokesperson said. “We hope to help more households take next steps as we assess the successes of the pilot and feasibility of scaling up.”
Additional reporting by Vaughn Golden
