Mamdani to pay NYC hotels $1.9 BILLION to house homeless for just 3 years

The Zohran Mamdani administration has inked a nearly $1.9 billion contract with the city's hotel industry in order to have emergency housing for the homeless around the Big Apple. The contract is set to take place over the next three years.

The $1.86 billon deal comes after New York dealt with the huge influx of migrants that was seen under former President Joe Biden. Hotels in the Big Apple at the time were being used to house migrants coming up from the border, but that has slowed down. 

However, even after the Trump administration has effectively halted the flow of immigration to the city, Mamdani's New York is seeing around 85,000 people on the streets looking for homeless shelters. During the large storm and cold snap that impacted New York from January to February, there were at least 15 people who died from the cold after Mamdani said he would not clear housing encampments.

The contract is with the Hotel Association of New York City Foundation, according to the New York Post. The foundation represents around 300 hotels in the Big Apple. “The contract is for emergencies not migrants and allows capacity to be created as-needed and the budget depends on that need,” the president and CEO of the Hotel Association, Vijay Dandapani, said.

Currently, the homeless services department has a contract worth $929 million with the Hotel Association, which runs from January 1, 2025, to June 30 this year. The contract has been providing 10,651 hotel rooms for homeless families. Of that contract, $626 million has been paid out. Although the Big Apple used to deal with individual hotels, during the pandemic, the Hotel Association started to handle the contracts.

That pattern has continued after the pandemic was over, when the migrant crisis was hitting the city instead.