New York City officials are dramatically expanding a controversial program that gives debit cards pre-loaded with cash to migrant families staying in taxpayer-funded hotels across the city.
The Adams administration says another round of debit cards is expected to be distributed to more than 7,300 migrants over the next six months, costing the city about $2.6 million. The move represents a major expansion of a pilot program that began earlier this year that doled out cards to about 3,000 migrants.
New York City Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom says the program allows newly arriving families the ability to “make choices for themselves and their children” by using debit cards.
“They can buy from local shops, support small businesses, and manage their own resources,” she said in a statement. “When we empower people, we help them achieve self-sufficiency and access the American Dream.”
Mayor Eric Adams has defended the program as a “cost savings measure” that “temporarily” replaces New York City’s existing system of providing non-perishable food boxes to migrant families staying in hotels and other city-funded shelters.
The program is a partnership between the Adams administration and the company Mobility Capital Finance, which says the plan will help migrants with food, baby supplies and other necessities as they await authorization to work from the federal government.
Under the program, a four-person family with children under five can receive up to $350 per week, or about $18,200 a year, according to published news reports. --->READ MORE HERE
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| Helayne Seidman |
In June, I reported that after months of inactivity, City Hall had loaded up its migrant cash-debit cards with another nearly $1.1 million in taxpayer money.
Days later, the Adams administration confirmed it: Gotham taxpayers will spend $2.6 million through the end of the year to add 7,300 families to the existing program, which has served about 900 families since March.
The city considers that “pilot” successful — but still hasn’t released a whiff of data to prove it.
Even if you think it’s a good idea to try giving migrants cash cards instead of direct aid for meals and other basics, the way Mayor Eric Adams has gone about it is not the way to do it.
In January, the city inked a no-bid, one-year deal with MoCaFi, a company co-founded by an Adams supporter, to distribute a potentially open-ended amount of money — “above $150 million” — to migrants staying at city hotels.
The city was in a hurry to sign the contract, but it took three months to start handing out those debit cards.
In late March, City Hall said it would launch the scheme with 115 families over six weeks, giving each family of four $350 a week; the pilot grew to 900 families.
Through late June, the program racked up about $850,000 in costs — but only $648,000 went to the actual migrants.
Instead, according to the contract, nearly $211,000 is owed or has been paid in fees to MoCaFi: $62,500 for half a year’s setup fee and two quarterly fees of $62,500 each, and stray fees for cards ($3.50 each) and a share of the money given to the migrants (3%).
The city says the program has saved almost $600,000, compared to delivering three boxed meals a day to the migrants’ doors.
But that’s comparing apples to (rotten) oranges.
Yes, City Hall is paying $8 each for three meals a day to a different no-bid contractor, under a deal it concealed for months — twice as much as the $4 per meal that MoCaFi debit-card recipients get to spend.
Yet the city has only just begun a bid process to see how much such meals might cost if companies compete for the job. --->READ MORE HEREFollow link below to a relevant story:
+++++New York City Doubles Debit Card Payments For Migrants+++++
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