New York City will end a contentious program that provided debit cards to migrant families to purchase food, city officials announced on Thursday.
The pilot program came under fire from the moment it was announced in February, with critics concerned that the cards could be misused and questioning whether it was fair to give preferential treatment to migrants over others in need.
Mayor Eric Adams has defended it, arguing that the program would bring down the costs of feeding migrants and give them a wider array of healthier options at supermarkets and bodegas.
But his administration has decided not to renew the one-year contract, which had been given to Mobility Capital Finance, known as MoCaFi, on a no-bid emergency basis.
The city’s Department of Investigation is investigating the contract with MoCaFi, The New York Daily News reported in October.
In explaining the city’s decision on Thursday, Mr. Adams made no mention of the investigation. He said that given the city’s “constant decrease in our population” of migrants, there was no need to renew an emergency contract.
“It was an emergency, and now we’re moving in another direction,” he said on WABC-TV, adding that the program was successful.
More than 200,000 migrants have arrived in the city since 2022, but the flow of arrivals has slowed in recent months. The program served more than 2,600 migrant families staying in city-funded hotels, said William Fowler, a spokesman for the mayor.
Under the program, a family of four with young children received about $350 per week for a month, with the possibility of renewal. The city has spent about $3.6 million on the program, with $3.2 million placed on cards and $400,000 paid to MoCaFi, city officials said.
The company’s chief executive, Wole Coaxum, said in a statement on Thursday that the company was proud of its work helping migrant families, which “aligns with our company’s mission to ensure efficient use of taxpayer dollars.”
Mr. Coaxum is an ally of Mr. Adams, meeting with him as part of his “mayoral classes” before he took office. He also donated $250 to Mr. Adams’s mayoral campaign in 2020. Mr. Coaxum said in an interview in February that he liked Mr. Adams’s campaign message, and there was “no expectation” that the donation would influence Mr. Adams.
Mr. Adams said in February that the company matched two of his priorities: using technology to improve city services and hiring women- and minority-owned businesses.
Spending on migrant services has come under scrutiny, especially following the city’s problems with a no-bid, $432 million contract with DocGo, a medical services company.
The city will go back to delivering meals to families staying at hotels under an existing contract with a company called Garner Environmental Services.
Justin Brannan, a City Council member from Brooklyn who chairs the finance committee, recently raised concerns about Garner Environmental Services in a letter to the state and city comptroller.
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