NYC inks new $250K contract to relocate homeless, migrants out of the Big Apple

Homeless New Yorkers — and now migrants — looking to skip town are getting a free ticket-to-ride out of the Big Apple.

The city Department of Homeless Services has inked a new $250,000 contract with booking agent Alpha International Travel Corp., to relocate some of the nearly 100,000 homeless shelter residents across the US. Migrants looking to leave New York City will also be accommodated, as part of a revamp of DHS’ Travel Assistance program.

“This program will also now help with the relocation of new arrivals,” a spokesperson for Mayor Eric Adams said. “Streamlining these operations will allow us to continue closing more emergency shelters and help migrants leave our system to take the next step on their journey.”

The new ticket-to-ride contract is illustrative of just how much City Hall continues to grapple with a persistent homelessness problem, despite the migrant crisis subsiding.

A staggering 97,100 people remain in the shelter system as of last week, including 40,800 migrants.

Mayor Eric Adams’ administration has already transported 61,000 asylum seekers elsewhere — through a separate migrant reconnection program — since 2022. Over that period, more than 234,200 migrants have come through the city’s intake system.

That means more than 193,000 migrants have moved on from the city’s care since 2022, according to city officials.

“Thanks to our nation-leading management of this crisis — including our successful reticketing program — we have seen over nine straight months of the migrant population decline in our shelter system, 62 migrant shelters will be closed by June, and we have saved city taxpayers $5 billion,” a City Hall spokesperson said.

City officials emphasized they’re not haphazardly moving migrants into other cities like Texas did without any prior planning.

The program was first started for homeless shelter residents in 2007, under Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

It is considered a worthwhile investment, costing the city hundreds of dollars per ticket instead of tens of thousands to keep someone in the shelter system.

DHS paid for 1,881 one-way tickets to move homeless shelter residents outside of Gotham in 2024.

“New York City’s reconnection programs provide the thoughtful relocation of migrants and traditional shelter clients to be closer to friends and family or other opportunities or community ties in a measured and coordinated manner with the expressed interest of the clients we serve — not to use these people as a political stunt,” a city official said.

Traditional homeless individuals and families or migrants must have housing options or a viable place to live, a strong family or other connection to the destination or a job, to be eligible.

The city also continues to operate a reticketing program for migrants outside of the shelter system.

And thousands of migrants remain housed in city hotels, outside the traditional system.