The Hall Street migrant shelter in Brooklyn is among 13...

The Hall Street migrant shelter in Brooklyn is among 13 citywide set to close by June, officials said. Credit: Bruce Cotler

Thirteen New York City migrant shelters will shut down by June, reflecting a monthslong decline in the number of people using the facilities, Mayor Eric Adams' office said.

The scheduled closure of emergency shelters in "oversaturated" areas of Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens will lead to the reduction of about 10,000 beds used for migrants, according to a statement Friday from the mayor's office. Among the scheduled closures is an emergency shelter on Hall Street in Brooklyn housing about 3,500 migrant residents and among the biggest in the city.

Since 2022, more than 240,000 immigrants, primarily from Latin America, have come to the city, resulting in billions of dollars in municipal costs, Newsday previously reported.

By the time the shelters are set to close in June, the city hopes to have shuttered roughly 45 over the proceeding 12 months. Currently, fewer than 51,000 migrants are using city shelter services, marking the smallest number in more than a year.

"The additional closures we are announcing today, provides yet another example of our continued progress and the success of our humanitarian efforts to care for everyone throughout our system," Adams said in the Friday statement.

Adams' language toward new immigrants has shifted over time, with him saying initially they were welcomed and later stating that the asylum-seeker crisis "will destroy New York City."

He has cited a budget gap caused by the crisis. However, a recent report from the Independent Budget Office found that his estimates of city costs for housing and other services were exaggerated. Despite the decline in the number of new arrivals at shelters, Adams projected spending would be $4.8 billion in 2024, when it was actually $3.8 billion, the report said.

City Hall attributed the reduced shelter population to several changes, including shifts in border policies that reduced the number of people coming to the state and better pathways toward work authorization.

Having fewer migrants in shelters will allow the city to "right-size" the number of shelters to the populations of specific neighborhoods, city officials said.

"We're relieved that the surge in new arrivals into our city these last few years has crested and that any strain placed on city services has lessened," Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. said in a statement.

Yet even with the closures, the city still plans to open a shelter in the Bronx to help men who were moved from a tent-style shelter at Randall’s Island, which had about 3,000 people at its height.

That facility is scheduled to close later this year.

With Matthew Chayes

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Get the latest news and more great videos at NewsdayTV Credit: Newsday

Snowy mix hits region ... What's the future of NUMC? ... LI Swifties ready for the big game ... Chow down in Charleston ... What's up on Long Island

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