The program distributed debit cards to migrant families staying in city-funded hotels, which allowed them to buy their own food. The program will end because the contract is set to expire, according to Mayor Eric Adams’s office, which did not provide a more specific reason.

“Through the immediate response cards pilot program, we were able to reduce food waste, redirect millions of dollars to our local economy, and provide more culturally relevant food to more than 2,600 migrant families in our care,” a City Hall spokesperson said Thursday.

“As we move towards more competitive contracting for asylum seeker programs, we have chosen not to renew the emergency contract for this pilot program once the one-year term concludes,” the statement continued.

The contract with the debit card company was also on shaky grounds. The city’s contract with Mobility Capital Finance, a company that provides services to low-income families, was awarded on an emergency basis, meaning there were no competitive bids from other companies. Adams’s administration had previously been criticized for entering a “no-bid” contract with DocGo, a medical services company working on the illegal immigration crisis in the city.

The city will instead transition back to food delivery services for migrants in their care in the hotel voucher program, the spokesperson said.

“For over two years, we have provided care to more than 222,000 migrants while saving $2 billion in asylum seeker-related costs,” the spokesperson said. “Thanks to our resettlement efforts, intensive case management, and national-leading Asylum Application Help Center, more than 160,000 migrants have left our shelter system and taken their next steps towards self-sufficiency.”

Since late March, New York has provided prepaid debit cards to around 2,600 migrant families living in hotels so that they can buy food and baby supplies. The total cost of that is estimated to be $3.2 million, according to ABC 7 New York.

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While the program was characterized by some as an additional expense, the program was initially created as a way to save money by no longer buying food for asylum-seekers that they did not want to eat.

The city estimates that the voucher program saved New York money, as it cost half as much as the boxed-meal delivery service that it replaced.