City Hospital System Takes on Migrant Emergency — With Blank Check From Mayor

BY KATIE HONAN & GABRIEL POBLETE THE CITY

Mayor Eric Adams has handed to the city’s public hospital system control of emergency relief operations for asylum seekers, an internal city memo reveals — bypassing standard oversight procedures for government contracts while spending nearly $100 million on hotel rooms.

An Oct. 13, 2022, memorandum of understanding between City Hall and the New York City Health + Hospitals Corporation — posted to the nyc.gov website in response to THE CITY’s inquiries — details procedures for what Adams calls Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers, or HERRCs.

“H+H shall be responsible for the management and operation of the HERRCs,” the memo states. For its part, City Hall committed to reimburse H+H for the costs of building and operating the centers, which also include the now-dismantled barracks-style shelter at Randall’s Island and a space at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal in Red Hook.

It is signed on behalf of H+H by Dr.

Ted Long, a senior vice president who heads the city’s COVID testing and treatment operation. Signing on behalf of the mayor was Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom. Health + Hospitals board meeting materials show that H+H President and CEO Mitchell Katz last fall authorized more than $92 million in spending on Manhattan hotels through spring 2023: $40 million for ROW nyc, $20 million for the Watson, $28 million for the Stewart and $5.8 million for the Wolcott.

H+H is also paying to use a Holiday Inn in Lower Manhattan, as revealed in the ongoing bankruptcy case of the hotel’s operator. That HERRC opened earlier this month.

Huron Consulting Services, LLC — a firm that was also involved in H+H’s COVID testing operations — is getting up to $18.5 million to help open the migrant housing sites. Rapid Reliable Testing, LLC, got approved for an $11.5 million contract for medical triage.

Transfer Away From Oversight

The city’s Office of Management and