Hochul considering using state properties, SUNY campuses to house asylum-seekers

Gov. Kathy Hochul said Friday that the state is considering all its options, including using SUNY campuses as potential sites, to house the ongoing surge of migrants and asylum-seekers in New York City.

"We're just doing an overall survey of all State assets," Hochul said in an unrelated visit to Buffalo on Friday. "No decisions have been made, but I wanted to find out what's available at everything from DOT facilities to our DEC offices to literally every place we have space, because in the City of New York, they are bursting at the seams. They started having to put them in school gymnasiums.

"And there's a lot of anxiety around this, but to me, we have a large State. We need to do it in a right way, a way that we work closely with the local officials."

Hochul called it a "crisis situation," noting she had met with New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday, a day after she went to Washington, D.C., to talk about the state's needs to accommodate the influx of asylum-seekers. Friday in Buffalo, Hochul said there are more than 71,000 asylum-seekers across New York State right now.

In New York City, where more than 60,000 asylum-seekers have arrived since spring 2022, Hochul said the city has more than 150 locations where they're being housed, including shelters and hotels. City officials have already had to look at housing options outside the city, which has included busing people to hotels in neighboring Rockland and Orange counties.

But more help is needed, Hochul said, noting her office is working with New York City officials "hour by hour to identify places where there are welcoming communities."

"We'll be making some announcements on locations and working with the mayor because they're responsible for deciding, ultimately, where people go, but our job is to provide them some options," said Hochul, who was in Buffalo on Friday to highlight minimum wage increases secured in the recent state budget.

State and university officials are saying little about how an on-campus housing program for asylum-seekers would work, or how far along any discussions are.

Representatives at the University at Buffalo and SUNY Fredonia did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday afternoon.

A SUNY Buffalo State University spokeswoman declined comment, saying SUNY Central officials were handling media inquiries on the issue.

Holly Liapis, a SUNY spokeswoman, did not provide details, such as what would happen to the asylum-seekers once classes resume in the fall.

"At Gov. Hochul's direction, we are assessing whether there are SUNY resources available to help with the arrival of asylum-seekers," Liapis said in an email.

Asked for further comment, the governor's office referred a reporter to Hochul's comments in Buffalo on Friday.

Though nothing has been settled, State Sen. George M. Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, issued a statement condemning any move to let migrants stay on SUNY campuses, particularly those in his largely rural Southern Tier district.

"It is going to take enormous resources to care for these migrants, resources our rural communities do not have," Borrello said. "These are not 'sanctuary communities' and they had no part in creating this crisis. They shouldn't be punished now for Albany and Washington's lack of foresight and planning."

But in her comments Friday, Hochul said "there's not a cost to the locality."

New York City has a right-to-shelter law that mandates the city provide shelter to anyone who needs it. With a crunch to find available space in New York City, that has city officials scrambling to find, and pay for, locations to house the ongoing surge of asylum-seekers. 

Further, there is a $1 billion funding commitment in the fiscal year 2024 budget for New York City, which includes $741 million for shelter costs, $162 million to support the ongoing National Guard presence and $137 million for health care to support certain eligible asylum-seekers, among other items covered. The idea behind those budget funds is to reduce the financial burden on New York City to house the asylum-seekers.

"This is simply allowing people to be welcome, whether it's in a hotel, if it is a campus," Hochul said. "And the money follows them, the money will cover their costs of all the services they will need. I think a lot of people don't know that yet. They assume that it'll be borne by the local community. That's not the case here."

But not all are receptive in an issue that cuts along political lines.

Erie County has not issued an emergency order barring migrants from being placed in the county. Its elected leaders are, like Hochul, Democrats.

The other seven counties in Western New York that have issued such orders are run by Republicans.

Allegany County on Friday joined Niagara, Orleans, Genesee, Wyoming, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties, which all acted Wednesday and Thursday.

"At this time, we are not aware of any attempt by either New York City or New York State to facilitate the relocation of migrants to Allegany County," W. Brooke Harris, chairman of the county's Board of Legislators, said in a statement. "This declaration aims to protect the public safety of all residents of Allegany County, and to ensure that migrants and asylum-seekers are not placed in a situation that would be detrimental to their health and well-being."

As the state works to identify locations, Hochul said she's also working to ensure "we can get some legal work status" that will allow the migrants and asylum-seekers to work on farms, hotels and restaurants across upstate New York.

"I think when we get to that point, it'll change people's attitudes about it rather dramatically," she said.