New York City’s emergency shelter system already was overloaded before a surge of migrant asylum-seekers began arriving last spring on buses from other states.

Mayor Eric Adams is deliberately obstructing oversight of over $1 billion in city contracts for asylum-seeker services, City Council members alleged at an oversight hearing Thursday.

New York, NY—Today, City Comptroller Brad Lander testified before the New York City Council Committee on Oversight and Contracts regarding asylum seeker contracts. This testimony comes just days after Comptroller Lander announced a new, real-time audit of the $432 million, no-bid DocGo contract to provide shelter services to new arrivals in the city and upstate.   

The pandemic hit New York City harder than any other U.S. lodging market. Tourists stayed away and business travel dried up. Dozens of hotels with thousands of guest rooms closed their doors permanently, more than in any other major market. 

On Sept. 6 at a town hall meeting on the Upper West Side, Mayor Eric Adams declared that the migrant crisis — which has drawn at least 110,000 immigrants seeking asylum — would destroy New York City, shocking New Yorkers and outside observers alike. 

The first week that New York City’s law severely restricting short-term rentals was in effect didn’t produce a higher-than-usual boost to hotel performance, according to early data, but hotel industry leaders expect that in the longer term, the ban will be a boon.

While many hotels around the country experienced a weaker summer than expected, New York is reaping the benefits of scores of visitors.

Airbnb rental options in New York City have shrunk after cumbersome new governmental restrictions went into effect on Wednesday and essentially became a ban on vacation rentals.