A hotel in one of New York City’s trendiest neighborhoods has been quietly converted into emergency housing for migrants for the past several months.
Mayor Eric Adams’ administration has recently awarded a $12.3 million emergency contract to a not-for-profit social service provider to run a “city sanctuary facility for families with children” at 235 Meeker Avenue in Williamsburg — the address of the Hotel Le Jolie.
The Department of Homeless Services issued the contract to the Brooklyn-based St. P.A.U.L.S. Inc. to manage the facility.
Hotel Le Jolie was converted into a shelter for migrant families sometime last year, on a temporary basis.
“They are having St. P.A.U.L.S. take over the operation. Nothing functionally changes,” a source familiar with the shelter operation said over the weekend.\The source said DHS was using temporary staff at the site and hoped the not-for-profit group would provide better services for migrant families.
A person answering the phone at the location claimed the hotel was closed for “renovations” when asked if it had rooms available for tourists.
On the hotel’s Facebook page, a visitor asked last November, “Is the Hotel Le Jolie closed or still open for business?”
There was no reply.
The hotel staff’s last replies to reviews on Tripadvisor for the 55-room boutique accommodations were posted in April of last year.
With the shelter system bursting at the seams, the city has gotten creative in finding housing for the influx of migrants.
Last August, the Adams administration even opened a shelter at the popular McCarren Park located on the Williamsburg-Greenpoint border.
When asked about the new contract for migrants staying at the Hotel Le Jolie, a Department of Homeless Services spokesperson said, “This is not a new site – has been open for quite some time.”
The Post reached out to Hotel Le Jolie management and St. P.A.U.L.S. for comment.
The migrant crisis has been a boon for Big Apple hotels still hurting from the loss of tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic.
More than 100 hotels have agreed to convert into emergency shelters for migrant families and individuals who have flooded the city from the southern border — with the government footing the bill for the rooms.
In January, the Adams administration inked a new emergency $76.69 million contract with the Hotel Association of New York City to provide “last resort” shelter to migrant families.
Under the contract, 15 hotels in Brooklyn, Queens and The Bronx will make blocks of rooms available to asylum-seeking families for up to 28 days under the “vouchering program” running through July.
The Post reported last September that the city extended contracts with the hotel association for three years at a staggering price tag of $1.3 billion — nearly five times the original $275 million deal — just to pay rental fees to the vast network of hotels converted into emergency shelters.
Adams has moved to curb mushrooming migrant costs by setting 30- and 60-day shelter stay limits for individuals and families, respectively.
Nearly 200,000 migrants have arrived in the Big Apple since spring 2022, overwhelming the city’s shelter population and forcing DHS to rely on hotels and to set up massive tent cities in Floyd Bennett Field, Creedmoor Psychiatric Center and on the grounds of Kennedy Airport.
New York City is forking out an average of $387 per day to put up a single migrant household in taxpayer-funded shelters, recent data from City Hall shows.
City Hall claimed the costs to combat the migrant migrant crisis could hit $10 billion through the next fiscal year.
The recently approved state budget provides the city $2.4 billion to help cover migrant costs while the federal government has provided little financial support.
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