Asylum-seeking families receive $4,000 grants to help them move out of NYC's shelter system

New York City's Department of Homeless Services has provided migrant families with up to $4,000 in assistance to secure permanent housing.

The program was quietly rolled out in December, offering 150 migrant families one-time payments to help them cover the up-front costs of moving out of the shelter system, according to Gothamist.

Agency officials confirmed that the initiative, called Asylee Moveout Assistance, benefited asylum-seeking families and pregnant women who were temporarily housed in 62 emergency Department of Homeless Services shelters across the city. All of the recipients had permanent housing lined up.

The initiative is not an ongoing subsidy, but rather a single-time relief meant to cover fees such as security vouchers, moving expenses, and up to half a month's rent on broker's fees, among other things that make the transition into permanent housing more difficult.

AMA was modeled after an existing benefit established by the Human Resources Administration and the Department of Homeless Services, called Enhanced One-Shot Deals, available for homeless working families.

Neha Sharma, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeless Services, told Gothamist that federal and state restrictions may affect the eligibility for some asylum-seekers.

"The city continues to use every tool at its disposal to implement innovative solutions while creating fundamental resettlement support for recently arrived asylum-seekers who may not be eligible for most federal and state-funded rehousing assistance," Sharma said in a statement.

Although the program's rollout hasn't been widely publicized, it is part of efforts by the Mayor Eric Adams administration to curb overcrowding in New York City's shelter system. Some of the measures have included 30-60 day eviction notices in city shelters, putting more than 30,000 families at risk of being displaced, as well as one-way tickets out of town.

According to City Hall, just under 1000 new migrants per week, mostly asylum-seekers, sought shelter in NYC in July of this year. More than 210,000 migrants have arrived since the influx of 2022.