More foreign migrants stay in New York City shelters than homeless New Yorkers, official says
New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Monday. The city is running out of room amid the nonstop daily influx of migrants, his office announced. Credit: Getty Images / Michael M. Santiago
New York City announced plans to open a 12th mass shelter in Manhattan to cope with the influx of thousands of asylum-seeking migrants arriving to the city weekly.
The city has now reached a milestone: more migrants are living in the city's shelters — over 50,000 — than homeless New Yorkers who are in shelters, the deputy mayor overseeing the crisis, Anne Williams-Isom, said Wednesday.
Last spring, before U.S. border state governors began busing migrants north in protest of the Biden administration's immigration policies, the number was negligible. Last week alone, the number was 2,500. And since last spring, more than 81,200, mostly from Latin America, have arrived in the city. There is no projected end to the influx.
"At this point, we now have more people in the city's care that are seeking asylum than longtime unhoused New Yorkers in our shelter system," she said. "These are sobering numbers, I know."
Ultimately, most of the migrants will not be allowed to stay legally — the bar to get asylum is very high, and "very few" have formally applied, despite a deadline of one year from arrival, Williams-Isom has said — but an unknown number will remain in the U.S. nevertheless.
The latest mass shelter has space for more than 500 migrant families. The shelter — which the city calls a Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center — will soon open at 1760 Third Ave. in Manhattan's East Harlem.
The city is running out of room, Mayor Eric Adams has said. His administration projects the cost to city taxpayers to house, feed and otherwise care for migrants to top $4.3 billion by next July. He's pleaded for federal and state money, with only a fraction of the cost being reimbursed. Williams-Isom has said the city hoped migrants can be placed elsewhere in the country, too.
"I know we're at a tipping point. I know we're at a breaking point and my heart breaks when I see children coming into our arrival center and sitting there and being exhausted and wondering and hoping that we have enough space for them," she said.
The city has opened about 175 shelters, most smaller scale, Adams' office said in a news release. He wants to relocate some of the migrants to places elsewhere in New York, including Long Island, but has faced resistance from leaders almost everywhere.
Earlier in the crisis, the migrants were being bused under the border-state programs. But lately migrants have begun arriving on their own, having flown into local airports or shown up at city intake centers.
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.
