Yahoo Finance How corporate America is responding to New York's migrant crisis
New York City has seen thousands of asylum seekers bused in from Texas since the spring, straining social services and prompting Mayor Eric Adams to declare a state of emergency this month.
Corporations have stepped in to help as the city responds to the crisis, according to Christine Quinn, former New York City Council speaker and current CEO of the homelessness non-profit WIN.
“In New York City, I do want to say that companies have stepped up and you know, donating clothes and donating other items that we need,” Quinn recently told Yahoo Finance's editor-in-chief, Andy Serwer.
Since spring, over 21,000 migrants have arrived in New York City, The New York Times reported on Oct. 21, citing city officials. Many are fleeing Venezuela due to its severe economic decline and have been bused in from Texas by the state's governor, Greg Abbott. who is sending the migrants north in response to "President Biden's open border policies."
As a result, homeless shelters have swelled. Nearly 64,000 people occupy the shelters, according to the NYC Department of Homeless Services, well over NYC’s 2019 record of 39,365 people.
In efforts to mitigate the crisis, WIN, the largest provider of family shelter and housing to homeless New York families, has served over 200 families seeking asylum. Recently, it has also worked with meat distributors to get families discounted food, according to The New York Times. Quinn credits companies including Pepsi, BlackRock, Blackstone, and the New York Mets for supporting the non-profit’s work.
“We're a lot of companies, I mean, one thing companies can do is if they don't have a giving arm, right, they need to get one,” Quinn said. “And that may be in the form of grants, maybe in the form of events, buying tables, however you want to do it.”
New York companies have also recently teamed up with city officials to tackle homelessness more broadly. For instance, Mayor Adams in July launched an initiative called the Homeless Assistance Fund, a private-public partnership dedicated to fighting homeless in New York City. More than 60 companies have contributed to the launch of the fund including Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, and Bloomberg LP among others. They had pledged $8 million to the cause as of July.
Quinn insists that New York businesses have a responsibility to help the homeless.
“You can't, in my opinion, exist in the city of New York and have all most of your employees come from New York, and think you don't get to give back because every day you're walking the streets, or police are protecting you or firefighters are protecting you, etc,” Quinn asserted. “You need to give back.”
Quinn added that companies can also use their communications platforms to effect change. For instance, New York City companies and local government joined forces to implement the Homeless Assistance Fund after more than 10,000 private sector employees signaled their concern about homelessness in a Morning Consult survey in March. Quinn says other companies should note their example.
“So, if you're a company and you feel like my employees are saying there's too much homelessness in this city, and it bothers them, okay we'll make an affirmative statement that you think the city needs to spend more money on housing…” Quinn said. “I can say this having been in government. Businesses get listened to by government.”
Quinn, a Democrat, served as the first female and openly gay speaker of the New York City Council from 2006-2013. Since 2015, she has served as the president and chief executive officer of WIN, previously “Women in Need.” The non-profit runs 14 shelters and 400 supportive housing units in New York City.
Dylan Croll is a reporter and researcher at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter at @CrollonPatrol.
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