NY City Council Proposes Using Empty Hotels To House Migrants Instead Of Tent City

Members of the New York City Council released their plan regarding the city's increasing number of asylum seekers, which does not include tent cities. Together with City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams (D-Queens), and Deputy Speaker Diana Ayala (D-Manhattan/the Bronx), the chair and the members of the Council’s Immigration Committee persuaded Mayor Eric Adams to consider the use of established indoor locations starting with the 10 closed large-scale Manhattan hotels.

According to Speaker Adams, indoor establishments give a more humane option than outdoor sites at Orchard Beach in the Bronx or Randall’s Island especially now that the colder months are approaching.

The city initially chose an emergency relief center at Orchard Beach with regard to handling the influx of migrants at Manhattan’s Port Authority Bus Terminal being untenable. However, they moved the relief center to Randall’s Island when the Bronx site encountered flooding despite similar situations at Randall’s Island.

In addition to their large-scale hotels that are likely to have room counts ranging from 1,025 to 478, the Council members suggest the over 70 additional closed hotels, like the Gramercy Park Hotel, with 15,000 rooms across the city that could be converted to supportive housing, the silive.com reported.

Meanwhile, Mayor Adams said on a political talk show Wednesday night that he is looking into sitting with the Council and Councilwoman Adrienne Adams, our speaker, and coming up with those solutions if Council has specific hotels to talk about. The mayor said that his administration has been very focused on the crisis of thousands of people arriving in their city seeking assistance, NBC New York reported.

The Council said they are focused on seeking answers to address the present migrant crisis, which is why they have identified more appropriate locations the administration should think about. They also said that they seek to address the root of the problem, which is the absence of supportive housing. This requires a constant bureaucracy of getting those who are already in our shelter system into permanent housing.

In their written statement, the council offered a few more specifics in dealing with supportive housing. It has been a long time since advocates argued about the city's need for more affordable and supportive housing for residents living in permanent homes, as well as easing the burden on the city's homeless shelter system. Councilman Shekar Krishnan said the Council urges Mayor Adams and his administration to work with them. As winter approaches, the situation is only going to be more urgent, the New York Daily News reported.