The Adams administration has been outspoken about the fact that the city is running out of places to house migrants.
“We knew that we would get to this point,” said Deputy Mayor Anne Williams Isom. “We have had over 100,000 migrants that have come to New York City since last spring.”
With 57,000 migrants in the city’s care, the Adams administration continues sounding the alarm that migrants have overwhelmed the city’s capacity to house them.
What You Need To Know
- The latest shelters to house migrants and asylum seekers that the city has added are parts of the McCarren Recreation Center in Greenpoint and the Sunset Park Recreation Center, both in Brooklyn
- The city’s Parks Department said migrants will have separate entrances. Additionally, amenities such as the pool and gym will remain open to the public
- NY1 has learned the City plans to open two new Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers — one in Queens and one in Brooklyn
The latest shelters identified and being added are parts of the McCarren Recreation Center in Greenpoint and the Sunset Park Recreation Center, both in Brooklyn.
“I’m a little bit concerned about safety features,” Anthony Mercatante, a Williamsburg resident. I belong to the gym across the street. I usually go there about 6 o’clock in the morning. So I don’t know if I’ll see them outside out there or whatever.”
Mercatante said he is a frequent user of the McCarren Recreation Center and the McCarren Park across the street. He’s also among the Brooklyn residents’ concerns over the use of public facilities and over the fate of the city’s newest arrivals.
“We all have to live together, but it’s a shame that these people are being tossed around,” he said.
“I come here to play pickelball,” said Joe Dente. “…they were telling me that they might shut the whole thing down and I’m not really that crazy about that.
”The city’s Parks Department said migrants will have separate entrances. Additionally, amenities such as the pool and gym will remain open to the public.“We have space to make,” Spencer Gilbert, a Greenpoint resident. “We have a city with a lot of resources even still, so the more we can do, the better.”
Sentiments were similar among folks NY1 spoke to in Sunset Park.
“It’s a public building,” said Stephen Payne, a Sunset Park resident. “If we need it for public use. A valid public use like taking care of asylum seekers who are here because they need to be, then I have no problems with using it.”
“I think it’s good to be honest with you, said Madeline Riley-Weiy, who also lives in Sunset Park. “They should be doing what they need to be doing and no one should be interfering with them.”
In response, a spokesperson for the city said, “New York City has been left alone to deal with a national crisis that demands difficult and swift decision-making. We are constantly searching for new places to give asylum seekers a place to rest their heads.”
Meanwhile, NY1 has learned the city plans to open two new Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers - one in Queens and one in Brooklyn.
“I’m just hoping it will be a peaceful existence for them,” Mercatante said.
The developments come after days of long lines of single adult male migrants waiting to be processed outside of the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan.
The lines there have dissipated. Some migrants appear to have checked into the Roosevelt while others were taken to different shelters.