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Wednesday, August 3 – Thursday, August 4 – Midtown, Manhattan:
By APB Staff Writer
The Roosevelt Hotel, in midtown Manhattan, which is the Arrival and Humanitarian Relief Center for asylum seekers, is now at full capacity, which forced asylum seekers to wrap around the sidewalk and for many to sleep in the street. Some told APB News that they have been there for many days. NYC humanitarian workers provided food and water. The Roosevelt Hotel is only a location for families with children.
Guardian Angel Curtis Sliwa spent hours at the hotel on Wednesday upset with the conditions and lack of government support and funding to offer better solutions. There are currently more than 56,000 migrants in New York’s care, with more people arriving daily, according to the mayors’ office. As NYC faces growing pressure to expand its shelter system, it relies on vacant hotels to create temporary housing for the migrants.
On Wednesday night, Mayor Adams stopped off at the Roosevelt Hotel to see for himself what was happening and ordered the NYPD and welfare officials to make room to bring the people inside or to another facility. The next morning, APB saw no one on the street and the area around the hotel back in its usual NYC busy way. It’s not new for the city to turn vacant hotels into shelters, but as the city says it’s out of rooms, plans for tents to be put back up in city parks and Randall’s Island are all being considered.
Now, with more than 93,000 asylum seekers coming through the intake system since last spring, the city says it runs out of space every single day and does its best to offer placements wherever they have space available. Children and families continue to be prioritized and are found in a bed every night. This week, many chose to sleep outside out of fear and a lack of a bed. This is a developing story!
