NYC Finding it Difficult to House Busloads of Migrants, Intake Center Plan Falls Apart

Overwhelmed New York City officials are struggling to provide a promised intake center and hotel rooms to migrants being shipped by the busload from Texas to the Big Apple.

The Department of Homeless Services admitted that it has abandoned its initial plan to run an intake and processing center dedicated to the recent arrivals alongside a 600-room shelter at the ROW NYC hotel on Eighth Avenue in Midtown.

Officials would only say Sunday that they have finally selected a finalist to operate the yet-to-open Manhattan facility but would not reveal the contractor’s name or its location.

Contracting documents show that officials had hoped to have the Midtown shelter and intake up and running as soon as Aug. 15, a mere 13 days ago.

DHS also admitted that it has yet to select and rent any of the 5,000 hotel rooms the agency said it is seeking to house migrants across the city.

Instead, officials are continuing to commingle migrants with New Yorkers in the city’s existing shelter system, which now includes 15 “emergency” hotel facilities to also help handle a summer population surge.

City Hall has refused to say how much the city is spending on housing migrants in the homeless-system hotels, but an analysis found the cost could surpass $300 million.

“We were already facing a crisis of homelessness in New York City when the flow of these migrant families started in earnest,” said Josh Goldfein, a lawyer with the homeless rights advocacy division at Legal Aid.

“We’ve always had asylum seekers in the New York City shelter system, so that is not new. But obviously, the volume increased.”

Since May, roughly 6,000 migrants have sought shelter with the city, including many bused from Texas at the direction of the Lone Star State’s Gov. Greg Abbott. 

Although Mayor Eric Adams has appealed to the White House for assistance, including financial resources, he has yet to receive the extra help he requested.

An official with knowledge of the city’s efforts said the Adams administration reached out to the United States Conference of Mayors for assistance, too.

“If Adams has not resolved this by the late fall, he will have a big problem. A failure to resolve this as the weather changes is going to be a real problem for the mayor,” said longtime political consultant Hank Sheinkopf. “It’s a public-relations disaster, and there’s no indication that Abbott is going to stop sending people here.”

When addressing the overrun migrant problem, some NYC residents voiced their opinions.

“Biden’s administration refused to do anything about the border issues and this is what we are stuck dealing with,” one resident said.

While another said, “We can barely deal with the ongoing crime and homeless people roaming the streets. Now we are stuck dealing with this crap!”