NYC migrant crisis transforms shuttered Harlem jail, JFK warehouse into shelter options
The relentless surge of migrants arriving in New York City seeking shelter is prompting Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul’s offices to scramble and prepare new emergency shelters at an old Harlem jail and an airport warehouse.
The Big Apple is already bursting at the seams to house roughly 45,800 asylum seekers – or half the city’s total shelter population – which are spread between 170 emergency sites throughout the five boroughs, according to City Hall.
The eight-story Lincoln Correctional Facility on West 110th Street in Manhattan opened on Thursday for single adult men – meaning no families – and can accommodate about 500 people, Eyewitness News reported.
City officials confirmed there are no longer cells inside the building, which was closed by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2019, the outlet said.
In addition to the Lincoln Correctional Facility, Mayor Adams’ administration is awaiting federal approval to open a warehouse at John F. Kennedy International Airport that has reportedly been stocked with about 500 cots.
The warehouse is ready to accommodate asylum seekers as soon as the city gets the green light from the Federal Aviation Administration, a source said on an internal call between City Hall and City Council Friday morning.
“We are working with one of the airport hangars at JFK to create large space there. So we’re focused on people having access to housing closer to the services and the community that they’ve already come with,” Gov. Kathy Hochul confirmed at a press gaggle on Friday.
Desperate lawmakers are also rumored to be considering using the iconic Flatiron Building as a migrant shelter, in addition to discussions about potential tent encampments in Central Park.
On Friday afternoon, a bus of new arrivals pulled up in front of the Lincoln Correctional Facility, while processing occupied most of the sidewalk. Handfuls of bread rolls also littered the street.
Those staying at the shelter were given red lanyards. The majority of them were processed downtown at the Roosevelt Hotel.
After arriving, most migrants went inside the shelter to avoid the 90 degree heat. Others set up in the park across the street and smoked marijuana.
New arrival Ruilber Ferrer, who got to the facility on Thursday, told Eyewitness News that he was grateful to have a roof over his head after an arduous journey from Venezuela.
“I’m very happy to be here, I always wanted to explore the United States,” he said, noting that he left his three-year-old daughter behind in order to start a better life for his family.
“I dream of owning my own barbershop and giving my daughter what I couldn’t have.”
“I don’t see a problem with it, we all got here a different way and some people just need help. Most people in the neighborhood don’t have a problem with it,” local Raul Jackson told The Post of the new shelter.
“You can’t kick people when they’re down.”
The grandson of the owner of a nearby deli said he was “indifferent” to the migrants’ arrival, noting that he himself is Hispanic.
Another local, who goes by Apple, was distributing takeout boxes of snacks to the migrants waiting outside the new shelter.
“I do what New York City is supposed to be doing. I do what the mayor lacks,” she told The Post.
“There was an article…that stated that 2000 shelter beds were empty, so there’s no need to misuse money to find new hotels, when the shelter system has enough beds available so, obviously Mayor Adams is misusing funds for his personal networks,” she lamented.
Apple’s concerns echoed those of other critics, who worried that the city was not putting its money toward correct resources, including legal services
“It’s been more than a year since the first asylum seekers arrived in New York City, and we still haven’t filled a contract for legal services, clearly, $5 million isn’t enough,” NYC Councilmember Shahana Hanif told Eyewitness News.
Not all Harlem residents were as open to the idea of the Lincoln Correctional Facility shelter.
Jose, 65, told The Post that he feels Adams is neglecting New York City’s homeless population.
He said he saw about 50 migrants lined up outside the shelter last night, as well as 15 police officers on the block. He estimated that 25 more showed up Friday morning.
“I said two things is gonna come out from this: I’m gonna be real safe, or it’s gonna be a mess,” he posited.
“I just came out of my building today and [the migrants] were lined up all down the block, I couldn’t even walk out. And it’s just what we’re dealing with every day.”
Jose also voiced concerns about the shelter’s all-male population.
“How much information do they have? Because we have kids, you know, they come around when my grandkids are out. I want them to be safe,” he said.
News of New York City’s ongoing struggle to accommodate the new arrivals comes as other parts of the state agitate to prevent the crisis from crossing into their areas.
On Friday afternoon, Rockland County executive Ed Day released a statement saying that a judge agreed to extend the county’s temporary restraining order against the city’s shelter program.
“This extension continues to prohibit the City from transforming hotels and motels in the County of Rockland into shelters,” he said.
“Additionally, the Judge strictly ordered that the Armoni Inn & Suites can only operate as a hotel for normal business, as it had in the past, and cannot operate as a shelter as they were intending.
“Violation of that order could subject Armoni Inn & Suites and the City of New York to contempt of court.”
Hochul said Friday that she was hoping the state would be more “generous and…welcoming.”
“And we have some counties that are in that vein, and I’m really proud of them, and others that are not so much,” she acknowledged.
“It could be a great opportunity for us to embrace people, help them get the work permits, which is my top priority. We get people these expedited work permits. I guarantee the farms not far from here and the hotels and the restaurants, they’ll have the workforce that they’ve been begging for…it’s a chance for New York to show who we really are.”
