New York City is obliged to provide shelter to those in need due to the Callahan v. Carey consent decree created 42 years ago. Originally thought to act as a safety net catching a few transient men, it has ballooned into an enormous expense.
It eventually grew to a $2-billion-a-year industry housing all comers — and is likely to cost the city $4 billion this year and ahead, as long as influx of illegal immigrants doubles the shelter population.
New York Post
If all large cities floated the same offering, perhaps NYC wouldn’t feel the burden of this right to shelter. As it stands it, the city is particularly attractive to migrants.
Without question, the “right” is the central reason New York is spending far more per migrant than any other large city — nearly $40,000 a head here, vs. under $3,000 in Los Angeles and less than $7,000 in Chicago.
The mayor of the Big Apple is rightly going to adjust the benefits flowing out of the city coffers. As situations change, as population groups change, as the intentions for the support changes, government has an obligation to reassess the overall distribution of funds versus obligations.
The scenario is also a reminder that public funds, through programs, create a market. If one city creates laws to favor certain population groups, these groups will show up. In creating a new law, the intent might only be to help the few in town who clearly have a need. But once it is established as a formal offering, others are bound to migrate, incentivized by the above market public program.
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