MRAP i.e. Migrant Relocation Assistance Program, may soon be the source of apartment rental funding in Yonkers, NY. The program will help pay up to one year's rent and provide services to eligible families relocating in Albany, Erie, Monroe, Suffolk, and Westchester counties. The program is paid for by both the NYC and NY State government.
Presently, 1,549 migrants are living in Albany, Monroe, Erie, Westchester and Suffolk counties. However, New York City and upstate county leaders recently stated plans to relocate more than 1,500 migrants living in upstate hotels by the end of the year.
Upstate officials have consistently complained that their counties cannot afford the migrants and their associated costs. There has also been an increase in crime associated with migrants in a few counties.
The plan is to place migrant families with children in other housing by Aug. 15, 2024, before school starts.
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The goal is to resettle most migrants in permanent housing upstate, but some will have the option to return to the city, or another city in the U.S. The relocation plan is different than what county leaders said earlier this week. The plan, however is fraught with controversy.
"County leaders on Monday said they've been negotiating with city leaders for weeks about relocating all migrants living in hotels back to the five boroughs. They maintain that earlier this month, officials with Adams' office said all migrants living upstate would be sent back to the city this summer.
The Adams' administration said Wednesday the city has no active plans to return families to the five boroughs, as about 1,000 migrants continue to arrive in the city each week from the Northern and Southern borders." --Spectrum News 12
Presently, three towns in Westchester County are designated migrant hotels. They are located in Yonkers, White Plains, and Ardsley. The combined population is approximately 400. The Yonkers Ramada Inn shelter has been the location of several police involved incidents. Sources state that police have been summoned to the Ramada in excess of one hundred times on various calls.
NYC officials appear confident that the majority of migrants will have secured work permits by the end of 2024. In theory, this would allow them to find apartments on their own. However, the present back log for migrants to obtain a work permit remains steady. Many must wait several months for paperwork to secure legal employment in the United States. This would mandate NYC and local municipalities to assist those migrants with paying for their apartments for one year.
If migrants did not have sufficient income to pay for their housing at the end of that period, municipalities would still be liable. A similar program was implemented for the homeless under NYC Mayor Bill DeBlasio in 2018. It was not sanctioned by Westchester officials who accused the then mayor of "pulling a fast one."
https://nypost.com/2018/03/08/town-says-nyc-is-illegally-shipping-homeless-families-upstate/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09ZjDREttOE
It remains to be seen how this plan will work out. A shortage of low income housing reduces the options for minimum wage workers in Westchester County. Yonkers continues to woo luxury housing developers and big business while the income criteria for Affordable Housing rises.
The potential for asylum seekers to become homeless remains a reality. https://nypost.com/2024/01/30/metro/nyc-homeless-shelter-population-surges-53-amid-migrant-crisis-mayors-report/
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