Asylum Seeker Funding Tracker- OMB

Mayor's Office of Management and Budget


Asylum Seeker Funding Tracker


NYC’s Humanitarian Crisis Response

Since Spring of 2022, tens of thousands of asylum seekers — adults as well as families with children — have fled dire conditions in their home countries and crossed the United States’ southern border in search of safety and a better life. The Adams Administration quickly mobilized multiple city agencies to provide shelter, food, health care, education in culturally appropriate languages, access to legal information, and other critical services. However, as the surge of asylum seekers has continued, costs have grown drastically, straining the city’s already over-taxed shelter system, social services, and other resources to the breaking point. To address this humanitarian crisis, Mayor Adams declared a state of emergency in October of 2022.

The Administration has released The Road Forward: A Blueprint to Address New York City’s Response to the Asylum Seeker Crisis that guides the city’s response to the humanitarian crisis. The city’s approach includes a new Office of Asylum Seeker Operations (OASO) to oversee ongoing and future activities, and allow existing city agencies to refocus on their core missions. The OASO will coordinate between agencies, make sure that agencies have the resources they need, and manage our advocacy to the state and federal governments.

Current Cost Forecast (as of June 2024)

City Fiscal Year
Forecast Cost ($B)
Formula*

2025
$4.75
(36,939 households) * ($352/night average cost) * (365 days)

* Households and nightly costs are a nightly average over the course of the city’s fiscal year. The nightly average cost of $352 reflects the estimated per diem rate for FY 2025 as of the FY 2025 Preliminary Plan

Current Budgeted Funding

FY25 - FY26 All Sources

City Fiscal Year
Budgeted Funding ($M)

2025
$1,906

2026
$1,601

Budgeted Funding by Source

FY25 ($M)
FY26 ($M)

City Funds
$1,906
$1,601

State Funds
$1,317
$1,000

Federal Funds
$60
$59

Total
$3,283
$2,660

Actual Asylum Seeker Care Costs

The Administration has mobilized an all-of-city response that includes the work of more than ten agencies across five service categories. The cost by both agency and service type is noted below. These charts will be updated monthly, after all relevant data has been collected.

As of December 31, 2024:

By Agency

NYC Agency
FY2023 Total
FY2024 Total
FY2025 Total
Grand Total

H+H
$469 Million
$1.53 Billion
$645 Million
$2.64 Billion

DHS
$764 Million
$1.19 Billion
$549 Million
$2.51 Billion

HPD
$33 Million
$413 Million
$189 Million
$636 Million

DCAS
$38 Million
$293 Million
$205 Million
$536 Million

NYCEM
$88 Million
$111 Million
$33 Million
$232 Million

OTI
$30 Million
$91 Million
$44 Million
$165 Million

Law
-
$33 Million
$20 Million
$53 Million

DSS
$15 Million
$19 Million
$8 Million
$42 Million

NYPD
$1 Million
$25 Million
$11 Million
$37 Million

DOHMH
$6 Million
$10 Million
$1 Million
$17 Million

ACS
-
$6 Million
$2 Million
$8 Million

HRO
$0.1 Million
$5 Million
$0.7 Million
$6 Million

DOI
-
$4 Million
$1 Million
$6 Million

DDC
$1 Million
$3 Million
$25 Thousand
$4 Million

DYCD
$0.5 Million
$2 Million
$0.9 Million
$4 Million

Parks
$0.4 Million
$2 Million
$0.5 Million
$3 Million

DEP
$0.3 Million
$2 Million
$0.5 Million
$3 Million

FDNY
$0.8 Million
$1 Million
$0.6 Million
$3 Million

DOE
-
$0.5 Million
$1 Million

DOB
$7 Thousand
$0.5 Million
$0.1 Million
$0.7 Million

Total
$1.45 Billion
$3.75 Billion
$1.71 Billion
$6.91 Billion

By Work Type

Nature of Services
FY2023 Total
FY2024 Total
FY2025 Total
Grand Total

Services and Supplies
$569 Million
$1.54 Billion
$743 Million
$2.86 Billion

House, Rent, Initial Outfitting
$568 Million
$1.52 Billion
$659 Million
$2.75 Billion

IT, Administrative Costs, and Other
$149 Million
$346 Million
$142 Million
$636 Million

Food
$106 Million
$259 Million
$132 Million
$497 Million

Medical
$57 Million
$75 Million
$36 Million
$169 Million

Total
$1.45 Billion
$3.75 Billion
$1.71 Billion
$6.91 Billion

Note: Totals may not sum together due to rounding

Funding Commitments by Source (FY23 - FY26)

(1) Includes spending of $1.0 billion in FY23 and $2.3 billion in FY24, and budgeted funding of $1.9 billion in FY25 and $1.6 billion in FY26.

(2) New York State has committed $4.3 billion in funding for asylum seeker costs statewide in State Fiscal Years 2023-24 and 2024-25. The direct commitment to the City is an estimated $3.1 billion. From this the city has received $1 billion in advance payments. The state has committed 176 million for legal services, case management, and infectious disease testing and treatment. On top of these funds, the state has agreed to reimburse the city for the costs of humanitarian relief centers located at Floyd Bennett Field, Randall's Island, and Creedmoor Psychiatric Center. This includes funding for up to 1,000 beds at Creedmoor and up to 2,000 beds at Randall's Island, with the estimated costs of one year of operations totaling $124 million and $248 million, respectively. The State has also committed to reimbursing the city for the costs of providing up to 2,000 beds at Floyd Bennett Field, where operational costs are an estimated $280 million annually. In addition, the State has made in-kind contributions to the city, separate from the items above, such as the use of the National Guard and rent payments to the National Park Service for the use of Floyd Bennett Field.

(3) This represents total funding allocated by the federal government. To date the city has received $120 million of these funds.