According to the Office of the New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, about 77% of undocumented immigrants seeking shelter in New York City have stayed in 157 hotels, utilizing approximately 15,750 rooms — representing 11.5% of the total 136,000 hotel rooms in the city.
In order to understand the cost of placing undocumented immigrants in hotel housing by the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) in New York City, the office of Comptroller Lander released a report on July 22, analyzing the cost of 9,500 rooms used for accommodating undocumented guests.
These hotel room services specifically for undocumented guests are part of an agreement signed between the Department of Homeless Services and the Hotel Association of New York City (HANYC).
The report indicated that the Department of Homeless Services and the Hotel Association of New York City initially signed a contract for 5,000 rooms, costing up to $237 million, from September 2022 to August 2023. The contract was later extended from September 2022 to August 2024, with the room count increased to 14,000, totaling $987 million in expenses.
According to the report, the contract between the Hotel Association of New York City and the Department of Homeless Services shows an average daily payment of $156 per hotel room.
However, the report analyzed the Department of Homeless Services’ daily cost for emergency hotel shelters at $332, still lower than the estimated cost of emergency shelters and services contracted by other city agencies (estimated at $404).
The report pointed out that when combining the Department of Homeless Services’ non-emergency service daily cost with the average hotel room cost, a total of $306 per day is required — still 24% lower than the cost of non-emergency shelter facilities handled by other city agencies.
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander stated in a declaration that emergency procurement situations may lead to rampant price fluctuations and overspending, but this (Hotel Association of New York City) contract serves as an example of cost control.
By late spring of 2022, a large influx of undocumented immigrants seeking shelter poured into New York City, with over 207,000 individuals accounted for to date.
Prior to July 2022, approximately 54,000 people were accommodated in the Department of Homeless Services-operated shelter system, with about 65,000 undocumented guests currently residing in emergency shelters.