Testimony: Permanent Housing for Asylum Seekers Is More Dignified and More Cost-Effective Than Shelter

Since 2022, nearly 220,000 asylum seekers have come to New York City and lived in the city’s temporary shelters. Today, 42,700 asylum seekers remain in shelters, often subjected to moves every thirty to sixty days. Rudrani urges New York City Council’s Committee on Immigration to refocus its financial investments to permanent housing solutions, such as housing vouchers, instead of hemorrhaging money on temporary shelters that are unsustainable and undignified.

Testimonial Letter to the New York City Council Committee on Immigration’s Executive Budget Hearing
Honorable Alexa Avilés, Chair
Re: Sustainably Addressing the Housing Needs of Asylum Seekers in the City

May 27, 2025

Dear Councilmembers,

New York City is on the precipice of two milestone moments: The Knicks have a shot at the NBA finals after twenty-five years, and perhaps equally importantly, the city has the chance to positively alter the lives of nearly 42,700 asylum seekers still living in temporary shelters.

I was surprised to find that the Committee on Immigration’s executive budget hearing neglected to mention housing, even though the city’s current housing policy is expensive and inadequate. The city spent $5.22 billion in shelters, food, and other emergency costs to support asylum seekers between FY 2023 and FY 2024. In the last year, a majority of asylum seekers have been forced out of the shelter system either through the thirty-day and sixty-day notices, or through sporadic, cross-borough shelter placements, which have made it difficult for asylum seekers to build community, get consistent schooling for their children, and find stability in a new city. What started out as an emergency, requiring short-term, rapid response efforts for more than 200,000 asylum seekers, is now a long-term housing crisis, unsustainable without a change in approach.

To meet the moment, the city needs to pivot its housing policy to support the asylum seekers that remain in shelters by providing them with a permanent housing solution. This is doable under the city’s current budget. The city is poised to spend $3.3 billion in FY 2025 for the 42,700 asylum seekers still living in shelters—an average of $77,283 per person in one year. That’s 2.6 times more than the annual cost of a one-bedroom apartment at fair market rent. Instead of continuing to waste city resources on undignified, substandard, temporary housing for asylum seekers, the city should provide one-year housing vouchers to give asylum seekers the chance to stand on their feet.

Nearly 80 percent of those remaining in shelters are families with minor children, 17 percent are single adults, and 3 percent are adult families.¹ The Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s guidelines for affordable housing rates at 30 percent area median income are $815 for a studio, $873 for a one-bedroom, $1048 for a two-bedroom. Some back-of-the-envelope math suggests that to provide a housing voucher to every asylum seeker currently in shelter would cost roughly $537,115,020.² That’s $295 million less than the city’s revenue if (when) the Knicks make it to the finals this year, and billions less than continuing to house these families in shelters.

In winter 2024, I surveyed fifty asylum seekers across Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan about their housing experiences in the city, including shelter stays, searches for housing, and prospects for work.³ Two statistics stood out to me: 70 percent of respondents said they would only want a voucher until they found work, and 82 percent have applied for work permits. Asylum seekers are more than ready and willing to work and contribute to New York’s economy, and they do not expect the city to perpetually tend to their needs. At this moment, they need a boost—like a housing voucher—to get out of a temporary housing system that is hemorrhaging city funds and is unsustainable for both the city and asylum seekers. This boost will not only help thousands of people get started on the path of stability, but will also better position them to add to the $18.4 billion in spending power and $2.7 billion in state and local taxes that immigrants contribute in New York.

Asylum seekers are more than ready and willing to work and contribute to New York’s economy, and they do not expect the city to perpetually tend to their needs.

The stakes are incredibly high for both the Knicks and our newest New Yorkers. And while the New York City Council may not be scoring any buzzer-beaters, the City does have the opportunity to make an equally momentous play that could change the lives of thousands of people and their children. I urge the City to shift its financial focus from temporary, crisis-oriented housing solutions to more meaningful, permanent housing solutions, such as an affordable housing voucher that would alleviate poverty, add stability, and dignify the lives of asylum seekers and their children.

Thank you for your time and your work on bettering the lives of asylum seekers in the city.

Rudrani Ghosh ( Next100)

1. The last reported numbers from the City are from February 2025.
2. The math: 35,640 families with children x $1048 (two bedroom) x 12 months = 448,208,640; 7,591 single adults x $815 (studio) x 12 months = 74,239,980; 14,000 adult families x $873 (1 bedroom) x 12 months = 14,666,400; ∑ = $537,115,020.
3. A complete analysis and report from this survey will be available here in July 2025.