Bloomberg News reports that New York City Mayor Eric Adams is going to "cut city services" in order to pay for the cost of housing migrants. 

The background here is that, since last spring, more than 70,000 illegal immigrants who gained access to the United States via the southern border, have arrived in New York City.

In response, Adams implemented a plan, which essentially has New York City - or rather the New York City taxpayer - paying the full expense of housing the migrants.

The migrants have been housed in hotels, and Bloomberg, in its report, details the specifics of the arrangement.

$4.3 Billion with a "B"

According to Bloomberg News, $4.3 billion is how much New York City is spending, between April 2022 and July 2024, on the housing arrangement for migrants.

Bloomberg uses the example of The Holiday Inn in Manhattan’s Financial District to demonstrate this arrangement, noting that, before the migrant arrivals, the hotel was struggling with debt and had filed for bankruptcy.

The outlet reports:

Just weeks later, New York City Mayor Eric Adams’s administration came with a lifeline: It wanted to rent all 492 rooms to house roughly 15,000 migrants over the next 15 months. The hotel, typically charging $110 a night, would get 73% more, or $190 a room. Plus, the city would guarantee full occupancy at a time when it expected to be just 70% full. Not only would the Holiday Inn be a “good corporate citizen” by agreeing to the contract, it was expected to rake in a “significant” $10.5 million profit, according to a bankruptcy filing.

According to Bloomberg, this deal is "one of more than 140 that is now benefiting the hospitality industry beyond filling otherwise empty rooms."

The outlet reports that, "in many cases, the city is paying premium daily rates to house the migrants."

Where's the money coming from?

The simple answer is the New York City taxpayer. But, there's more.

Adams now says that city services must be cut in order to pay the $4.3 billion bill.

Per Bloomberg:

To manage those expenses, Adams says the city is planning to trim services such as library hours, meals for senior citizens, re-entry programming for Rikers Island prisoners, and free, full-day care for three-year-olds. Last month, Adams also sought to unwind the city’s right to shelter, which entitles the migrants to housing within 24 hours of their arrival.

It is certainly a win for the migrants and a win for the hotels.

But, it is anything but a win for the New York City resident and taxpayer.