NYC officials eye Central Park, Flatiron Building to house migrants as crisis continues

 City Hall officials hard-pressed to find living space for busloads of migrants arriving daily have asked New York City landmarks like the Flatiron Building and the Aqueduct Racetrack if they can provide space for the wave of new arrivals, according to a report.

Usage of the iconic building for temporary shelter was quickly shot down by the owner Jeff Gural, according to a story published by The New York Times, but it’s another demonstration of the extraordinary measures the Adams’ administration is resorting as New York’s shelter system struggles to keep up.

The broadsheet’s story came as The Post revealed that Adams’ chief of staff Camille Joseph Varlack sent a desperate plea to all city agencies on Sunday asking them to identify potential space to house migrants.

“With more asylum-seekers arriving daily, this influx has pushed our shelter system to a breaking point and we need to create emergency temporary sites,” wrote Joseph Varlack.

“We ask that city agencies conduct an internal review of any properties or spaces in your portfolio that may be available to be repurposed to house asylum-seekers as temporary shelter spaces. If there is current programming please include programming that is.”

City Hall officials have asked landmarks like the Flatiron Building if they have space to house newly arrived migrants.

Imago via ZUMA Press

Migrants arriving at the former NYPD academy in Manhattan to spend the night on May 5, 2023.

Christopher Sadowski

One such location is the gymnasium inside of the former Police Academy on 20th Street in Manhattan, which has been stuffed full of cots to provide temporary emergency shelter.

That effort came under fire from homeless advocates when city officials acknowledged they had placed families with children alongside single adults temporarily due to space constraints in the shelter system.

Other possible venues under review: airplane hangars at John F. Kennedy Airport, tents in Central Park in Manhattan, Prospect Park in Brooklyn, and Flushing Meadows Corona parks in Queens according to a report by CNN and confirmed by city officials.

A shelter for migrants set up in the gymnasium of the former police academy.

The city is also exploring locations like the Aqueduct Racetrack and John F. Kennedy Airport for possible migrant shelters.

G.N.Miller/NYPost

The wave of migrant arrivals has brought nearly 61,000 migrants so far to the five boroughs. More than 37,000 of them are living in city-operated or city-funded shelter facilities that’ll cost the city an estimated $4.2 billion in 2023 and 2024 alone, Adams has said.

https://nypost.com/2023/05/09/nyc-asks-flatiron-building-owner-to-shelter-migrants-report/