After a month and a half, it seems the city is finally ready to house asylum seekers at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, a federal-owned former military base.

On Monday, officials gave a glimpse into the state-funded migrant shelter site, which has multiple tents that include a registration area, a classroom and cafeteria.

What You Need To Know

  • In the coming days, migrant families will start being sheltered in tents at Floyd Bennett Field

  • The former airport is the latest site of a humanitarian relief center for migrant families with children

  • City officials on Monday gave a tour of the site that can house up to 2,000 migrants. It is the first site that will place families in semi-congregate settings

  • City officials pushed back against claims the site had fire safety issues and concerns over e-bike charging

The site also includes outside bathrooms and showers and will be the first site to house migrant families in a semi-congregate setting.

“In this tent we can house up to 500 people at a time and that’s across 128 families so its broken up into pods for families up to six,” Dr. Ted Long, senior vice president of ambulatory care and population health at New York City Health + Hospitals, said.

“Each pod has its own light, so the main lights go off at night and there’s three breakers for each outlet to make sure everything is safe for you to plug in,” he added.

Each dorm style tent can hold up o 128 families or about 500 migrants. Each “pod” comes with cots for adults and pack n’ plays for children.

While on the tour, officials refuted claims that the site didn’t pass the necessary fire inspection to ensure migrants are safe.

“There’s not a fire inspection, per se. I don’t know — there is a DOB certification for us to move in. That has been provided. In terms of the fire department, what we do is we work with them to understand what their concerns are. They are the experts on fire safety,” Zach Iscol, commissioner of the city’s emergency management department, said.

In a memo obtained by NY1, the fire department noted that the location didn’t have hydrants close to the site. The nearest hydrants are at least 3,000-feet away and even those are old and not reliable.

City officials said they are working with the fire department on safety concerns.

“For fire, they have given us a list of what they are concerned about. We have met all of the requirements to sort of meet all of their concerns on their list. There’s a couple of other things we are still working through to try and mitigate but we’re essentially there,” Iscol said.

Officials also pushed back against concerns migrants could potentially charge e-bike batteries at the location.

“You can see there are electrical outlets. If those outlets — if you’re plugging in a hot plate, an e-bike battery, anything that requires significant load it will actually cut off so they’re not even able to charge e-bike batteries,” Commissioner Iscol said on how safety protocols in the sleeping tents don’t allow for charging of large devices.

There is also expected to be regular transportation at the site for migrants.

“Every 90 minutes, we’ll have a shuttle that will take you to the Ryan Center, which is where the Q35 is. Then from there the shuttle will then go to the Coney Island station, which is where the MTA picks up and then it will come back here. That will run every 90 minutes until 10 p.m.,” Dr. Long said.

Families at the site will be given a 60-day-shelter limit and will serve new arrivals.

The state is the one footing the bill of the site at Floyd Bennett Field for the one-year lease term. The monthly rent is about $1.7 million. The total cost of the agreement is over $20.8 million.