NYS Budget: Hochul proposes $2.4B for asylum seeker housing, services in $233B budget plan

New York would spend an additional $500 million on asylum seekers in the coming fiscal year if Gov. Kathy Hochul's budget proposal, unveiled on Tuesday, is approved.

Her $232.7 billion plan for the fiscal year that begins on April 1 includes that funding to help New York City continue to provide shelter and services for thousands of migrants bused to the city from the nation's southern border.

The increase would hike the total annual spending on migrant housing and services to $2.4 billion, up from $1.9 billion the state has committed for the current fiscal year.

The state's funding commitment for migrants includes paying for large-scale emergency shelters at Randall's Island, the state-owned Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in Queens and at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn.

Hochul's spending plan boosts aid for public schools though not by the large amounts Albany delivered last year. School districts would get an overall increase in foundation aid — the largest form of state assistance — of $507 million, a 2.1% increase over last year's total.

The state's Medicaid expenses are set to rise by $3 billion to $30.9 billion, a 10.9% increase. Hochul attributed that increase partly to the state absorbing costs for 200,000 enrollees who were temporarily supported by federal funding during the pandemic.

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Closing New York's budget deficit

The Hochul administration entered budget season with what it estimated in October to be a $4.3 billion deficit. But balancing the plan released on Tuesday turned out to be less painful than it appeared at that stage.

At a media briefing after her 40-minute budget presentation speech in Albany, Hochul said a key change was that the state took in about $2 billion more tax revenue than it had projected in its mid-year report. She also said the state addressed the deficit by "modifying the growth in some key drivers in our budget" — Medicaid and education.

Hochul didn't seek any income-tax increases to close the gap. And at the media briefing, she vowed to oppose any efforts by lawmakers to hike taxes during budget negotiations, calling her stance on that issue "very firm."

She called her plan a "solid, balanced budget without cuts or added burdens," noting that state spending will grow by nearly $6 billion, or 4.5%.

"This budget proves that you can have fiscal discipline, and that can co-exist with people-driven, progressive policies," she said.

Where would the extra NY migrants funding come from?

The additional $500 million budgeted for migrants' housing and services would come from the state's expanded reserve funds, which Hochul said had grown to 16% of the state's budget — even higher than the 15% target she had set.

In her budget speech, she called it a one-time, emergency use of "excess generated by our sound investment practices," one that would keep the reserves level at 15%.

"We're doing this not just because it's the right thing to do for the migrants and the city of New York," she said. "We also know that companies won't do business in New York if there are thousands of people sleeping on the streets, or the quality of life is dramatically impacted because the city is forced to cut essential services."

Hochul added, "We must support the city of New York in this moment, to avoid these disastrous effects and to protect our economy and state revenues in the short-term and long-term as well."

The city is currently caring for more than 69,000 migrants, Hochul said. She is set to meet with federal officials in Washington, D.C., to discuss the migrant crisis on Friday, and said she plans to make another plea for federal aid as well as immigration policy reforms.

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Hochul said the city has been able to move 10,800 migrants out of its shelters each month but still can't keep pace with the new arrivals of about 13,600 per month.

"That's how you just can't get your head above water," she said.

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Housing plans: What's Hochul's new approach?

Hochul's budget offered a litany of steps to boost New York's housing supply and tame spiraling costs, but without the mandates she pushed unsuccessfully last year. They included a renewed effort to replace an expired tax incentive that used to fuel construction of affordable housing in New York City through tax breaks for developers.

Her proposal also included creating a $500 million state fund for infrastructure work to prepare certain state-owned properties for housing development. Developing those lands could yield an estimated 15,000 new homes.

Public safety: Tackle retail theft

"Keeping New Yorkers safe is my number one priority," Hochul said, repeating a familiar mantra before listing three specific types of crime her budget targets.

She dedicated $40 million to combatting retail theft, a strategy forecast last week in her State of the State speech that includes creating a special State Police unit to pursue organized shoplifting gangs. She also budgeted $41 million for domestic violence efforts and $35 million to fight hate crimes.

What else is included in NYS budget proposal?

Hochul's proposal also included:

• $55 million to open 200 new hospital beds for psychiatric patients

• $10 million to train 20,000 teachers in basic reading instruction

• $47 million to plant 25 million trees by 2033 and help meet the state's climate goals

• $160 million to open new pools to expand access to swimming

What happens next?

State lawmakers will review Hochul's plans and hold hearings on them over the next several weeks and then craft their own counter-proposals, one for the Senate and one for the Assembly. Leaders of the two chambers, both of which are controlled by Democrats, must then negotiate a final spending plan with the Democratic governor.

The budget is due before the start of the fiscal year on April 1. But negotiations sometimes drag past that deadline as they did last year, when the final budget was enacted more than a month late.

Chris McKenna covers government and politics for The Journal News and USA Today Network. Reach him at cmckenna@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: NYS Budget: Why Hochul proposing $2.4B for migrant services, shelter