7,300 Migrants to Get Food Debit Cards as New York City Expands Program

New York City officials are significantly expanding a contentious program that distributes debit cards to migrant families staying in city-funded hotels, allowing them to buy their own food as the city tries to reduce the costs of caring for migrants.

The debit cards are expected to be distributed to more than 7,300 migrants over the next six months at a cost of about $2.6 million, city officials said, building from a pilot program that began earlier this year with roughly 900 families, or nearly 3,000 migrants.

The program drew fierce skepticism when it was proposed in February, largely over fears that the cards would be misused and concerns about whether migrants were being given preferential treatment over other people in need.

Officials connected to the program said that fraud prevention measures had been successful, with the cards being used as intended to feed more than 1,300 children and 42 pregnant women during the program’s first 13 weeks.

With more than 60,000 migrants currently in the city’s care, the program — which is expanding from three hotels to 17 — could serve about 1,230 people per month, or roughly 2 percent of the total migrant population.

The program is part of a contract with Mobility Capital Finance, known as MoCaFi, that could eventually cost the city as much as $53 million, with as much as $2 million going to the company and the rest being distributed to families, city officials said. Under the pilot program, a family of four with young children received about $350 per week for a month.