New York Metropolis will shut the controversial Randall’s Island migrant camp shelter by the top of February, Mayor Eric Adams stated Wednesday.
Metropolis Corridor, in a press launch saying the large tent encampments Feb. 28 closure, stated that the variety of migrants housed in taxpayer-funded shelters had gone down for 14 consecutive weeks, and was now at its lowest degree in additional than a yr.
It touted the administration’s 30-and-60 day limits on stays for single adults and households, respectively, in addition to reticketing — a service that helps prepare journey out of the town — and connecting migrants to providers for its success in lowering the shelter inhabitants.
“We’re not out of the woods but, however make no mistake, thanks largely to our sensible administration methods and profitable advocacy, now we have turned the nook on this disaster,” Adams stated in an announcement.
At its peak, Randall’s Island had a capability of about 3,000.
The town began to shrink it in August, shifting about 800 residents out and taking down the biggest tent on the shelter web site, officers stated.
Over the following 4 months, a Metropolis Corridor spokesperson stated it might gradual the speed at which newly-arrived single grownup migrants are despatched to Randall’s Island and step by step relocate them to different websites throughout the Massive Apple as capability permits.
As soon as the camp is cleared, the town “will spend money on restoring the remaining impacted athletic fields and parkland,” officers stated. It’s unclear how lengthy that course of will take earlier than the impacted areas can reopen to the general public.
The island accommodates 330 acres of parkland and features a stadium, 60 athletic fields, a tennis facility and huge inexperienced house.
The mega-shelter has turn into a supply of competition as migrants who had been kicked out after hitting the keep restrict started creating their very own encampments round it.
Parks Division law enforcement officials and the NYPD have repeatedly raided the world to take away makeshift dwellings and cease reported open-air drug markets.
The large shelter, which is managed by the town Well being and Hospital company, has additionally seen a number of violent crimes because it opened in the summertime of 2023.
There are about 60,600 migrants at the moment housed within the Massive Apple’s shelter system and some 218,900 migrants have come by the consumption system since spring of 2022, based on the newest metropolis numbers.
Supply hyperlink
