Almost no NYC migrants are accepting free plane, bus tickets after shelter evictions, data show

Less than 2% of adult migrants per day are accepting free plane or bus tickets to leave the Big Apple once they are booted from the city’s overflowing shelter system, newly released data show.

Of the roughly 1,600 asylum seekers who flock to the city’s East Village intake center each day, an average of just 30 have been willing to relocate to another city or state, according to data obtained by Gothamist from the city’s emergency management agency.

In September, Mayor Eric Adams’ administration cut the time that adult migrants can stay at city-run shelters to 30 days, in a bid to free up space in the already overburdened system.

As a result, hundreds of adult migrants have for months been flooding the intake center — located at the former St. Brigid School on East 7th Street.

Of the roughly 1,600 asylum seekers who have gone to an intake center in the East Village each day when their 30-day shelter stay expired, an average of 2% are accepting a free plane or bus ticket, data show. J. Messerschmidt for NY Post
Of the roughly 1,600 asylum seekers who have gone to an intake center in the East Village each day when their 30-day shelter stay expired, an average of 2% are accepting a free plane or bus ticket, data show. J. Messerschmidt for NY Post

Once there, the migrants can either reapply for taxpayer-funded temporary housing, which could see them sent to hotels upstate — or take up the offer of a free one-way bus or plane ticket.

The data, collected between Dec. 17 and March 3, show that just 15% of the migrants, on average, were able to secure another bed after trying to re-enter the shelter system at the East Village intake center after getting their 30-day eviction notice.

The city has so far coughed up $7.6 million to reticket migrants out of the Big Apple since spring 2022, a City Hall spokesperson told The Post.

The top destinations include other parts of New York state, Illinois, Texas, Florida, Colorado, Minnesota, Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

Hundreds of adult migrants have for months been flooding the intake center — located at the former St. Brigid School on East 7th Street — after the city started capping the time a single adult migrant can remain in a shelter. Kevin C. Downs for NY Post
Hundreds of adult migrants have for months been flooding the intake center — located at the former St. Brigid School on East 7th Street — after the city started capping the time a single adult migrant can remain in a shelter. Kevin C. Downs for NY Post

It wasn’t immediately clear how much of that $7.6 million has been forked over at the East Village center. Asylum seekers can also get reticketed at other shelters, including the city’s main Roosevelt Hotel intake center. The data for the other reticketing sites were not immediately available.

City officials, however, insist that roughly 60% of the migrants who have come through the Big Apple’s shelter system since spring 2022 — about 113,000 — have already “taken the next steps in their journeys.” This includes asylum seekers who are no longer in the city’s care because they either support themselves or left using their own means.

“We’re laser-focused on using intensive case management, reticketing, and legal support to help more people move out of shelter as they desire more self-sufficient lives,” the City Hall rep told The Post.

“While we are grateful for the assistance we have received thus far from our federal partners, we need more. We need the federal government to finish the job they started by providing more asylum seekers with expedited work authorization, sending additional financial support to New York City, and implementing a comprehensive decompression and resettlement strategy.”