Hochul Promises $2.4B For NYC's Migrant Crisis

NEW YORK CITY — New York City will get $2.4 billion to deal with the migrant crisis under Gov. Kathy Hochul's proposed budget for the coming year.

The promised asylum seeker funds were a big surprise as Hochul unveiled her executive budget Tuesday for the 2025 fiscal year. Most of her other proposals were a slew of already-teased big money promises for the city, from housing tax breaks to a crosstown Second Avenue subway extension to a giant floating swimming pool.

But when it came to speak about migrants, Hochul she would tap into reserves to give the city an additional $500 million on top of its current $1.9 billion funding level from the state.

Hochul said doing so is not only the right thing for migrants on a humanitarian level, but also would assuage business concerns about thousands of people sleeping on the streets and quality of life impacts from the city cutting essential services.

"We must support the City of New York in this moment to avoid these disastrous effects," she said.

Mayor Eric Adams has argued the ballooning cost of caring for migrants forced him to propose sweeping — and controversial — spending cuts on services such as libraries. Last week, he walked several of those cuts back, but defended the cuts as prudent given the fiscal picture when they were first proposed.

Hochul's announcement came just hours before the mayor's latest budget announcement for the city.