An internal municipal email discloses that Mayor Eric Adams delegated emergency relief operations for asylum seekers to the city’s public hospital system, circumventing the normal scrutiny processes for government contracts while spending close to $100 million on hotel rooms.
Procedures for what Adams refers to as Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers, or HERRCs, are outlined in a document of understanding signed on October 13, 2022, by City Hall and the New York City Health + Hospitals Corporation and released on the nyc.gov website in response to questions from THE CITY.
- Advertisement -
The letter adds that “H+H shall be responsible for the management and operation of the HERRCs.” In exchange, City Hall agreed to pay H+H back for the expenses incurred in constructing and running the facilities, which also included the now-demolished barracks-style shelter at Randall’s Island and a room at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal in Red Hook.
The document is signed on behalf of H+H by Dr. Ted Long, senior vice president and director of the city’s COVID testing and treatment program. Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom executed the document in the mayor’s place.
ROW NYC, the Watson, the Stewart, and the Wolcott will each get $40 million, $20 million, $28 million, and $5.8 million, respectively, in funding from Health + Hospitals President and CEO Mitchell Katz until spring 2023, according to papers from board meetings.
As evidenced by the current bankruptcy action of the hotel’s owner, H+H is also paying to utilize a Holiday Inn in Lower Manhattan. This month, the HERRC began operations.
To assist in the opening of the migrant housing sites, Huron Consulting Services, LLC, a company that was also involved in H+H’s COVID testing procedures, would get up to $18.5 million. An agreement for medical triage worth $11.5 million was granted to Quick Reliable Testing, LLC.
According to the January Health + Hospitals board meeting minutes, the city’s Office of Management and Budget has committed to, “provide H+H with sufficient revenue through the HERRC MOU with the mayor’s office to cover HERRC expenses.”
Several hours after the publication of this article, Jonah Allon, the mayor’s spokesman, stated: “Since the beginning of this humanitarian crisis, New York City has mounted a multi-agency response to ensure we are meeting our moral obligations and providing compassionate, comprehensive care to those arriving in our city, and NYC Health + Hospitals has been key in that response from the start.” When THE CITY asked him how much money had so far been sent to the hospital system, he did not respond.
A representative for Health and Hospitals declined to comment for the story on the record, but they did share details about their system, including the transitional accommodation H+H offers to those who are suffering from homelessness and require medical attention.
H+H expenditure is regulated by the hospital system’s board of directors rather than going via the city comptroller for approval as opposed to contracts with city agencies.
When The City questioned Comptroller Brad Lander’s office about the hospital system receiving a blank check from Adams for emergency migrant housing, Naomi Dann, his spokeswoman, said the office had “requested detailed information on their contracts for HERRC operations.” During the currently ongoing city budget process, Lander will provide input.
More than 29,700 asylum seekers are still residing in HERRCs and city homeless shelters, while City Hall reports that over 47,100 migrants have entered New York City from the Mexican border since last summer.
Certain HERRCs, such as the sizable men’s facility at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal, have served as hotbeds of controversy. Several migrants opposed their transfer from the Watson Hotel in Manhattan to the outlying Red Hook location.
The memorandum states that although the mayor’s Office of Disaster Management is in responsible of creating regulations and procedures for the relief centers, H+H is actually in control of the project.
Three staff teams are involved in the management of the intake process by H+H. The assigning of beds is handled by two teams. After four days of arrival in New York City, a third team is responsible for arranging transportation to “outside the city” for individuals who desire “reconnections.” This team can also coordinate transfers to Department of Homeless Services-run homeless shelters and maintains track of any migrants who decide to leave a HERRC on their own.
The document reveals that the city’s Office of Technology and Innovation is tasked with creating a sizable information database on the migrants.
The city is gathering information on the migrant’s pet and food allergies, their state of origin, and specifics on “reticketing” to friends and relatives in other parts of the United States, such as the cost of travel and if it will be by train, charter bus, airline, or boat.
The intake representatives also inquire about prior appearances in immigration court as well as the name and address of a sponsor, if any.
All migrants must sign a “consent document” during admission, which is available in English, Spanish, or Haitian Creole, and which states that they understand the facility is only a temporary refuge and that they may be asked to leave at any moment. These HERRC processes were first made public in City Limits this autumn.
The memo notes that confidentiality rules forbid disclosing the information unless it is necessary to improve services or “as otherwise required by law.”
According to Adams, the total cost for the city to house, feed, and help asylum seekers will be more than $4 billion. The Department of Homeless Services, which runs 87 emergency shelters that simultaneously serve as migrant housing, also includes long-term housing in the multiyear total. The New York Post claimed last month that DHS had guaranteed a hotel trade organization up to $275 million in room rents.
At the time the HERRCs originally opened, the Coalition for the Homeless voiced concerns about monitoring, according to Shelly Nortz, deputy executive director for policy at the nonprofit organization. The H+H shelters are not subject to governmental oversight or legal agreements, whereas DHS homeless shelters are.
She claimed that if the HERRCs were a part of the DHS shelter system, “they would be very clearly contending with state oversight in a fashion that’s different from how they’re contending with them now,” adding that the Coalition continues “to have concerns about potentially disparate standards between the two.”
The City questioned immigrants at Manhattan hotels, and they expressed gratitude for the access to housing and healthcare.
Since arriving from Ecuador two months ago, Jaritsa Chicaiza, 20, and her family have been lodging at the ROW hotel in New York City. They have health insurance, she claimed.
“Things have been good here. They give the children good things so they can be healthy,” she claimed. She added, “here they give us all the help we need.”
46-year-old Peruvian traveler Carmen Zavala is a guest at the Holiday Hotel in the Financial District.
She informed the admission staff that she was experiencing despair, and was then taken in an Uber to a neighboring hospital where she was put on a virtual call with a mental health professional.
She was grateful for the assistance from the city and attributed her unhappiness mostly to the unrest in her own country and a custody dispute involving her kid.
She told THE CITY, “Being here, I’m being treated wonderfully, I have a good bed, on a good floor, and every day they ask me how I’m doing.” She continued, “What a beautiful country.”
