Citing New York Mayor, U.S. media reports say New York City's shelter population has increased by more than 17,000 people since April, as hundreds of migrants arrive weekly on buses from Texas — and the shelter census will top 100,000 in the coming year if the current pace continues.
New York City expects to spend at least US$1 billion by the end of this fiscal year on the burgeoning shelter crisis that now has more than 61,000 people — more than a third of them children — in its system, Mayor Eric Adams said on October 7 as he declared an asylum seeker state of emergency.
One in five of those in the system are asylum seekers, people who have been bussed to the five boroughs from other parts of the country over the last few months, Adams was cited as saying. And hundreds more are reportedly arriving each week.
As of October 7, the just-over 61,000 shelter system population included about 20,000 children. On any given day last June, the average shelter census was closer to 47,000 people, including about 15,000 children. The numbers keep rising — and at the current pace, the city's shelter census will surpass 100,000 in the coming year.
The mayor noted that thousands of asylum-seekers had been dropped off in the city "without notice, consideration or care," and while New York agencies have worked to assist them, the influx has been overwhelming. More than 40 emergency shelters have been set up and 5,500 children enrolled in schools, but the city lacks resources to keep up, he said.
"Our right-to-shelter laws, our social services and our values are being exploited by others for political gain. New Yorkers are angry. I am angry too," Adams was quoted as saying. "This responsibility was simply handed to us without warning as buses began showing up. There's no playbook for this, no precedent."
