New York City is caring for more migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. than longtime homeless residents for the first time as the migrant crisis reaches a tipping point in the Big Apple, city officials announced Wednesday.
There are currently over 50,000 migrants under the care of New York City, Deputy Mayor of Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom said during a briefing, a number she called ‘unsustainable’ as it surpasses the number of unhoused New Yorkers in its shelter system.
‘You see from today’s numbers that we have reached a tipping point,’ Williams-Isom said. ‘We now have more asylum seekers in our care than longtime New Yorkers … who were in our existing DHS system.’
‘We all are facing a humanitarian crisis right here in the five boroughs,’ she said, and called on federal partners to help in the form of financial aid and national coordination.
Since Spring 2022, more than 81,200 asylum seekers – most entering the U.S. from the southern border – poured into New York City’s intake system, according to the deputy mayor.
Last week, an additional 2,500 came under the city’s care, Williams-Isom said.
Over the course of the crisis, the city has opened 176 sites and 12 Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers to support the wave of migrants.
Williams-Isom also announced that the city is extending the contracts of 10 navigation sites, including the addition of an eleventh site – a cost of $2.3 million.
As New York City officials struggle to house tens of thousands of asylum seekers, they have begun to bus some migrants to the suburbs.
Earlier this month, Mayor Eric Adams caught backlash for suggesting housing migrants in private residences in the city.
Adams, a Democrat, had also announced that he is suing 30 New York counties over local executive orders intended to stop the city from housing migrants in their towns.
Fox News’ Cortney O’Brien and Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.