ALBANY — Mayor Adams visited Albany on Tuesday to urge New York state lawmakers who hold sway over city resources to increase aid for the migrant crisis, asking for the state to cover 50% of the city’s migrant costs.
The trip, an annual affair known as Tin Cup Day when city mayors make their demands of the powerful state Legislature, is Adams’ third as mayor and comes as the city struggles to shelter an estimated 66,200 asylum seekers in some 216 shelters.
“We are not out of the woods,” Adams, a former state senator, testified to a joint hearing of the state Senate and Assembly at an auditorium in the bowels of the Legislative Office Building.
The city has projected it will spend at least $10.6 billion to support the migrants by summer 2025, and the state has already pledged about $2 billion in the current budget cycle. Adams expressed appreciation for those investments, but added that the city needs more than the state pledge so far, which he said covers about one-third of the city’s migrant costs.
Gov. Hochul, a Buffalo Democrat and close political ally of the Democratic mayor, has proposed that the state invest $2.4 billion to assist with the migrant crisis in the next budget cycle, but the state’s finances have not been fully hammered out with the left-leaning Legislature.
In his remarks to state legislators, Adams also touched on other requests he has for Albany: He asked for a four-year extension of his control over the city’s schools, which requires state signoff, and new legislation vesting power in city authorities to weed out illicit cannabis shops. On both of those requests, he has Hochul’s backing.
But on the issue that animated the thrust of Adams’ testimony — funding for the migrant crisis — the mayor made an ask that represents a significant increase from the ledger that Hochul has proposed.
A spokesman for Hochul, Avi Small, responded to Adams’ remarks by reiterating Hochul’s $2.4 billion proposal, adding that the governor would continue to press federal officials to provide more resources to New York.
The city has sought to reduce migrant costs by instituting limits on how long asylum seekers can stay in city shelters before they have to reapply to spend more time in the system. And the city has made painful budget cuts that have affected New Yorkers’ access to services such as libraries.
One Democratic state lawmaker, Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal of Manhattan, asked Adams during the hearing if he would commit to restoring services that have been cut if the city receives Hochul’s proposed $2.4 billion in the next budget.
“Senator, this is a moving crisis,” Adams replied, adding that the city will limit cuts as much as possible.
“So are you saying that the $2.4 billion isn’t enough?” the senator asked.
“No,” the mayor responded. “No it is not.”
The mayor declined to put an exact number on how much the city needs. But a spokesman for Adams, Charles Lutvak, said the city wants at least $400 million more for migrants than Hochul has proposed — and likely more than that.
The city’s shelter population has almost tripled since Adams took office, the mayor testified in the hearing.
Adams, who has by turns warned the migrant crisis could “destroy New York City” and emphasized the city’s historic role as a global place of refuge, said Tuesday that he was mindful of the city’s reputation as a “city of immigrants.”
But he added that the city has found itself in an unsustainable position. Since spring 2022, the city has welcomed more than 170,000 migrants, according to government tallies, a figure that surpasses the number of residents that live in the city of Syracuse.
Many of the asylum seekers have streamed into the five boroughs after fleeing political and economic upheaval in Central and South America, apparently aware that shelter awaits them in New York under the city’s unique right-to-shelter rule.
The city’s Democratic comptroller, Brad Lander, voiced support for the mayor’s argument that the state should be covering about half the migrant costs.
“I think that would be a fair framework,” Lander, a Brooklyn progressive and frequent critic of Adams, said in an interview. “It’s worth remembering that the right to shelter is grounded in the state Constitution. We’re meeting a state obligation in what we’re doing.”
In 1981, the city and state signed a landmark consent decree requiring the city to provide shelter to the homeless, after a Manhattan Supreme Court justice found a right to shelter in the state Constitution.
That right has never been applied statewide. And the city and state have gone to court in an effort to weaken the city’s right-to-shelter mandate during the migrant crisis. The Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless, a court-appointed monitor of the right to shelter, have fought against the city and the state.
Adams has also relentlessly criticized the federal government for not offering more support with what he has characterized as a national issue foisted upon the city. He has not spared President Biden, a Democrat, from his critiques, driving a wedge into their relationship going into a presidential election year.
Last year, Adams asserted that Biden had “failed New York City.” On Tuesday, Adams said the city cannot assume the federal government will increase its limited financial assistance to the city.
“While we appreciate the commitment the governor made last year to cover one-third of the city’s asylum seeker costs, this was based on the premise that the city, the state and the federal government would split the cost three ways,” Adams said.
“The federal government has only committed $156 million,” he added. “The vast majority of which we have yet to receive.”
