Kirsten Gillibrand wants to send NYC migrants upstate for funding
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand needs to assist clear up the Large Apple’s shelter disaster by relocating newly arrived migrants to upstate cities — which might use the inhabitants enhance to qualify for pork-barrel federal funds as she seeks reelection, The Put up has discovered.
Gillibrand (D-NY) has floated the concept to Metropolis Corridor and mentioned it with Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday throughout a closed-door assembly in Washington, a supply acquainted with the matter stated.
The senator has additionally contacted Gov. Kathy Hochul’s workplace to hunt her help, a second supply advised The Put up.
Metropolis Councilmember Gale Brewer (D-Manhattan) confirmed Gillibrand just lately pitched the concept to her as nicely.
“She advised me that preparations might be made for housing help, childcare, college help and dealing,” Brewer stated. “She appeared to really feel it is a answer for some who would possibly wish to go.”
Gillibrand’s plan, if profitable, might assist the Albany native convey house the bacon to struggling locales as she appears forward to a possible re-election bid in 2024, a DC supply near the senator stated.
The cash would come from the $9 billion-plus federal Group Growth Block Grant (CDBG) program, which is meant to assist low- and moderate-income communities by stopping or eliminating slums and blight.
Final 12 months, New York obtained a complete of $316 million in CDBG grants, in line with the federal Division of Housing and City Growth, which runs this system.
“It’s a money cow in that it supplies to upstate cities the debatable golden security web,” the Gillibrand supply defined.
The annual giveaways have been criticized by conservative teams — together with The Heritage Foundation and the Manhattan Institute — as riddled with wasteful spending, cronyism and corruption.
The vast majority of CDBG grants go to main cities, smaller cities with populations over 50,000 and concrete counties with populations over 200,000.
The upstate cities of Niagara Falls and Binghamton each have populations of round 48,000, which means they may simply qualify for CDBG funds by accepting only a fraction of the estimated 11,000 migrants who’ve flooded into New York Metropolis amid an ongoing border surge.
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Adams warned Wednesday that the inflow was bringing the town’s shelter system close to its “breaking level.”
The next day, his chief authorized counsel, Brendan McGuire, stated the town would search to amend a lawsuit settlement that ensures beds for homeless individuals mere hours after they apply.
“What we’re speaking about is the fact that that is utterly unexpected, this fee of inflow of individuals into the system,” McGuire stated. “And so it’s irresponsible to not reassess how the system works.”
“Upstate New York communities have a proud custom of welcoming immigrant households who’ve since thrived for many years, turning into essential pillars of the native economic system and tradition,” Gillibrand stated in a press release Friday.
“I’ve mentioned this with a number of different native leaders and stand able to assist in any method I can, together with securing extra federal funds for New York Metropolis and reforming the immigration courtroom system to operate far more effectively,” she added.
When requested about the potential for shifting migrants upstate, Adams press secretary Fabien Levy declined to remark immediately.
“Whereas no choices have but been made, we have to think about all choices that assist us meet our ethical and authorized mandates,” he stated in a prolonged ready assertion.
