New York is spending an average of $387 each day to house and feed each of the 64,800 illegal immigrants in its care, the latest data from City Hall shows.
The cost to shelter migrants each day in taxpayer-funded housing is now more than $25 million a day, as the New York Post reports.
Mayor Eric Adams has been working to slash the spending since the crisis erupted in the spring of 2022. The migrant budget, known as the per diem, is down from $392 a day last October, when there were 65,400 migrants in New York’s care costing $25.6 million a day.
Adams office projects the migrants will set the city’s budget back by $10 billion through next fiscal year.
“In the last two months, Mayor Adams has laid out plans to save billions of taxpayer dollars as New York City manages a national humanitarian crisis, and the numbers show that our efforts are working,” said a City Hall spokesperson. “We expect to save $2.3 billion by next summer.”
Adams hopes to bring the daily cost of housing and feeding each migrant down to $352 in fiscal year 2025, the spokesperson added.
Even as the costs are reduced, New York will continue to “advocate for additional support from our state and federal partners,” the spokesperson said.
The per diem costs do not reflect the cost of education or medical care.
The news comes on the heels of New York’s $53 million pilot debit card food program for migrant families living in hotels.
The cards are meant to be only used at grocery stores, supermarkets, convenience stores and bodegas. Migrants must sign an affidavit swearing that they will only use the funds for food or baby supplies.
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