Minnesota Isn’t the Only Magnet for Welfare Malfeasance

Mamdani, take note: New York City’s social-service system is rife with abuse and mismanagement

By Kate Farmer of The WSJ. Excerpts:

"The city of New York, however, paid more than $800,000 for 4,902 room-nights to put up asylum-seekers in this hotel [Armoni Inn & Suites], some 30 miles north of downtown Manhattan. Yet no migrants ever stayed"

"New York . . . in 2023 gave mobile healthcare company DocGo a $432 million contract for migrant housing. Because Mayor Eric Adams had directed agencies to use emergency housing procurements, DocGo didn’t have to bid against any competitors. Although it had no prior experience providing housing or homeless services, DocGo received exclusive consideration."

"In the first two months . . . a comptroller audit found, $11 million of its $13.8 million in invoices were unsupported. Expenses included $1.7 million for nearly 10,000 nights of empty hotel rooms,  . . . more than $2 million for unauthorized security staff and caseworkers, and another $2 million in staff hours that were never recorded. . . . by the end of its 12-month term the city had paid the company $182 million."  

"All 51 nonprofits it [Department of Investigation] examined had at least one finding of misconduct. More than 80% had at least three; 30% had five or more. Examples included shelter insiders funneling millions to personal businesses; executive salaries of more than $700,000 a year" 

"“multiple instances” of new contracts being steered to vendors already profiting from existing contracts"

"she [Gov. Kathy Hochul] came under public fire in 2022 for granting a $600 million no-bid contract to a company whose founder was a longtime campaign fundraiser and donor"