Less than 2% of adult migrants accept free plane or bus tickets to leave the Big Apple each day after being kicked out of the city’s overcrowded shelter system, according to recently disclosed data.
According to data obtained by Gothamist from the city’s emergency management agency, just around 30 of the approximately 1,600 asylum seekers who visit the city’s East Village reception site every day are willing to relocate to another city or state.
In September, Mayor Eric Adams’ administration reduced the length of stay for adult migrants at city-run shelters to 30 days in an effort to free up space in an already overburdened system.
As a result, for months, hundreds of adult migrants have flooded the processing center, which is located in the former St. Brigid School on East 7th Street.
Once there, the migrants can either reapply for taxpayer-funded temporary accommodation, which may send them to motels upstate, or accept the offer of a free one-way bus or airline ticket.
The data, collected between December 17 and March 3, show that only 15% of migrants were able to get another bed after attempting to re-enter the shelter system at the East Village intake center following their 30-day eviction notice.
Since spring 2022, the city has spent $7.6 million to reticket migrants leaving the Big Apple, according to a City Hall official.
Other popular destinations include areas of New York State, Illinois, Texas, Florida, Colorado, Minnesota, Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.
It was not immediately clear how much of the $7.6 million had been spent at the East Village Center. Asylum seekers can also rebook at other shelters, including the city’s flagship Roosevelt Hotel intake center. The data for the remaining reticketing sites was not immediately available.
City officials, meanwhile, assert that around 60% of the migrants who have been through the Big Apple’s shelter system since spring 2022—oor over 113,000—hhave already “taken the next steps in their journeys.” This includes asylum seekers who are no longer in the city’s care because they either sustain themselves or are left on their own.
“We’re laser-focused on using intensive case management, reticketing, and legal support to help more people move out of shelter as they desire more self-sufficient lives,” a spokesperson for City Hall told The Post.
“We are appreciative of the assistance we have received thus far from our government allies, but we need more. We need the federal government to accomplish the job it started by granting more asylum seekers expedited work permits, offering further financial assistance to New York City, and adopting a thorough decompression and relocation strategy.”
