New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday announced that — thanks to the administration’s successful asylum seeker management strategies, which have continued to drive down the number of people in the city’s care and reduce costs — 25 shelters, including the Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, are slated to close in the coming two months.
Adams said that thanks to the administration’s successful advocacy for executive orders at the border by the Biden-Harris administration, which have significantly reduced the rate at which Caribbean and other asylum seekers are arriving in New York City and seeking care, and the administration’s successful asylum seeker management strategies — including reticketing, case management, and 30- and 60-day notices — the number of asylum seekers in city shelters has decreased for 22 straight weeks and is now at its lowest point in over 17 months.
Immigration advocates say that many of the migrants arriving in New York from the southern border seeking refugee status are nationals from Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela, and Nicaragua.
The mayor said that New York State, which was paying the costs of sheltering migrants at Floyd Bennett Field, would continue to reimburse New York City for the costs of equivalent care incurred at other sites across the city.
Earlier this year, Adams announced that Randall’s Island’s Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center will close on Feb. 28.
“Thanks to our smart management strategies, we’ve turned the corner, and this additional slate of shelter closures we’re announcing today is even more proof that we’re managing this crisis better than any other city in the nation,” said Mayor Adams.
“Our intensive case management, paired with 30- and 60-day policies, have helped more than 170,000 migrants take their next steps on their journeys because migrants don’t come here to live in our shelter system — they come here to pursue the American Dream,” he added.
“We’re going to continue looking for more sites to consolidate and close, and more opportunities to save taxpayer money, as we continue to successfully manage this response,” the mayor continued.
The Mayor’s Office of Asylum Seeker Operations Executive Director Molly Schaeffer said: “At the height of this humanitarian response, the Floyd Bennett Field activation served as a relief valve to provide critical shelter and resources to hundreds of families at their greatest time of need; and it has continued to serve as an integral component of the unprecedented system we established to receive and care for the more than 225,000 asylum seekers who walked through our doors.
“Today’s announcement is a direct reflection of the tireless commitment of our teams and the tremendous work they do every day to ensure that people are ready to move on to the next steps in their journeys to self-sufficiency,” Schaeffer added. “New York City continues to lead from the front.”
Adams said that in addition to the Floyd Bennett Field, recent and upcoming shelter closures in New York City include El Rancho Hotel, Bronx; Hotel RL, Brooklyn; Imperial Hotel, Brooklyn; Sleep Inn, Brooklyn; 97th Street Dorms, Manhattan; Americana Inn, Manhattan; Hotel Merit, Manhattan; and Randall’s Island Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center, Manhattan.
Others are Upper West Side Dorms – Amsterdam Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center, Manhattan; Upper West Side Dorms – Stratford Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center, Manhattan; The Essence at JFK, Queens; JFK Respite Center, Queens; Quality Inn JFK, Queens; and Voyage Hotel, Queens.
Murad Awawdeh, president and chief executive officer of the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), an umbrella policy and advocacy organization that represents over 200 immigrant and refugee rights groups throughout New York, said that “New York’s future success depends on investing in all who call this city home, whether they arrived 30 days ago or 30 years ago.
“Housing families in congregate settings, such as tents in remote locations far from public transportation, grocery stores, schools, and job opportunities, has been a flawed and short-sighted approach from the very beginning,” he added.
But Awawdeh said that while NYIC welcomes the impending close of Floyd Bennett Field, “it is not enough,” urging the Adams administration to take further steps by focusing on humane and long-term solutions “that truly support our newest neighbors.
“The city must prioritize creating pathways to permanent housing that provide stability and dignity, ensuring immigrant New Yorkers can build their lives here and contribute to our communities,” he said. “This means expanding access to CityFHEPS vouchers to New Yorkers regardless of immigration status, investing in legal services to help people secure work authorizations and legal status, and ending harmful 30-and 60-day shelter limits that create uncertainty and fear.
“These investments are essential to ensuring success for all New Yorkers rather than perpetuating a cycle of instability and hardship,” Awawdeh added.
Natalia Aristizabal, deputy director at Make the Road New York, another immigrant advocacy group with 28,000 members, said: “We are pleased to see that New York City is taking this initial step to protect the lives of immigrant families ahead of Trump’s inauguration by closing shelters that only house new arrivals.
“The Floyd Bennett Field shelter, which was never an appropriate site to house families, is especially vulnerable as it is situated on federal property and would likely be targeted by the Trump administration for deportation raids,” she said. “However, we need even more action to guarantee that immigrant New Yorkers are safe over the next four years.
“City leaders must move swiftly to protect New York families from an incoming administration that has made it clear that they will use all the means at their disposal to hurt, separate, and deport immigrant communities,” Aristizabal further urged.
“We look forward to working with city officials to take necessary steps to protect vulnerable communities,” she continued.
