Bianca Guzman and her family had to move Tuesday.

“I’m confused because we don’t know what we are going to do,” Guzman told NY1 in Spanish.


What You Need To Know

  • About 40 families left the Row NYC hotel Tuesday, with luggage and garbage bags full of their belongings
  • They can reapply for shelter at the Roosevelt Hotel, but some said they were leaving the city
  • Some families were worried about how their children would continue to steadily attend school amid the move
  • City officials say they will try to place families close to their youngest child's school

This was a common sentiment among the roughly 40 families who had to leave the Row NYC hotel Tuesday.

Many went to the Roosevelt Hotel to seek new shelter placements in the city.

City officials insist the families leaving The Row have been counseled by case workers an average of four times per family.

But many who spoke to NY1 said they received little help and did not know where they would end up. They also said they were unsure whether they would be able to keep their children in the same school, which is their right under federal law.

Guzman's 13-year-old son told NY1 that he hoped he would not have to leave his school.

Asked what he liked about it, he said he loved “everything.”

“Because teachers speak English and Spanish, and they teach us various things,” he said.

Schools have offered stability to more than 30,000 migrant children who have been enrolled since July 2022.

Mayor Eric Adams and his administration say the city will work to place families who reapply for shelter at locations close to their youngest child’s school.

“Our highest priority is making sure that kids, especially in elementary school, get to stay in the same school they’re at,” said Dr. Ted Long, the senior vice president of the city’s public hospital network.

Pressed about why the city was forcing these families to leave The Row if they were just going to be placed in another shelter nearby, the administration said the 60-day period was an opportunity for case workers to help families take a more permanent step.

“Nobody wants to be in a hotel room indefinitely. People want to have stability so that when you move into your new apartment, you know that’s where you’re going to be staying and that’s where your kid is going to be in school indefinitely,” Long said.

One couple, Mayra and Jose, carried bag after bag out of The Row Tuesday. They and their children, who were at school, will move to New Jersey, where they were able to afford rent for an apartment.

“They’re a little bit sad because they don’t want to change schools. It’s kind of bittersweet because they want to leave, because here we can’t cook and they like homemade meals,” Mayra said. “But the school will be too far away. It’s a little complicated for them, but God willing, everything will be fine.”