More NYC migrant shelters to close this year, including controversial Clinton Hill facility
An Asylum Seeker Application Center in Midtown, August 9, 2023. Photo by Michael Appleton/ Mayoral Photography Office on Flickr
Mayor Eric Adams last week announced the closure of more than a dozen emergency migrant shelters by June, including a facility in Brooklyn that housed roughly 3,500 people and led to protests by residents. The closures come as the number of asylum seekers in the city’s care has decreased for 27 straight weeks and is currently at its lowest point in 18 months.
More than 229,000 migrants have arrived in New York City since 2022. According to City Hall, there are 51,000 migrants currently in city shelters, down from 69,000 last January.
Last month, Adams announced that 25 other migrant shelters would close over the next few months, including tent shelters at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn and Randall’s Island. Floyd Bennett officially closed over the weekend.
The city announced the closure of 10 facilities, with plans to finalize three additional sites in the coming days. The new closures will reduce the total number of beds for migrants by 10,000. The city is shuttering the following facilities:
- BK Way, 764 4th Avenue, Brooklyn
- Hall Street Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center (HERRC), 47 Hall Street, Brooklyn
- Holiday Inn Express, 625 Union Street, Brooklyn
- The VYBE BK, 1024 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn
- 99 Washington HERRC, 99 Washington Street, Manhattan
- Stewart Hotel, 371 7th Avenue, Manhattan
- The Watson Hotel, 440 West 57th Street, Manhattan
- Hotel Nedia, 38-04 11th Street, Queens
- Holiday Inn/Staten Island Inn, 300 Wild Avenue, Staten Island
- Ramada, 125 Tuckahoe Road, Yonkers
“Our intensive and smart efforts have helped more than 178,000 asylum seekers — 78 percent of the migrants who have ever been in our care — take the next steps on their journeys towards pursuing the American Dream,” Adams said. “We will continue to do everything we can to help migrants become self-sufficient, while finding more opportunities to save taxpayer money and turn the page on this unprecedented humanitarian crisis.”
The city turned the vacant office property at 47 Hall Street into a temporary shelter for migrant families and children in the summer of 2023. Since its opening, Clinton Hill residents protested the facility over quality-of-life and crime issues surrounding the shelter, which housed over 3,500 people.
Last year, RXR Realty filed plans with the city to transform the Hall Street property into a mixed-use campus with over 600 apartments.
“Following significant advocacy from me & my constituents in Clinton Hill, and partners like @thenyic, I applaud the effort to finally close the Hall Street HERRC and end this separate and unequal shelter system for newly arrived asylum seekers,” Council Member Crystal Hudson, who represents the neighborhood, said in a post on X.
“I’m glad there’s a plan to responsibly transition residents to a new location. And while this happens, we must also ensure the rich communities our diverse immigrant populations have established are maintained & that they can continue to have every resource they need to thrive.”
In addition to the closures, the city announced plans to open a brick-and-mortar facility on Bruckner Boulevard in the Bronx for single adult males, who will be transferred from Randall’s Island. The seven-story warehouse will house 2,200 men, according to the Daily News.
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