New York City’s homeless shelter population has reached record levels as a growing number of migrants enter the city.
The city’s Department of Homeless Services reported in its latest statistics on Tuesday that 62,556 people were registered in its shelter system, surpassing the previous record set in 2019.
The new record included 11,960 families with children, comprising nearly 38,000 of the sheltered homeless, along with another 19,998 single adults. The single adults consisted of 15,558 men and 4,440 women, according to the report. The numbers do not include an unknown number of unsheltered homeless in the city.
“As the numbers of asylum seekers entering New York City continues to increase without an end in sight, the city’s family-focused Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center will soon open to serve families with children and provide them with the care and compassion they deserve. Our team will continue to work with these families and assess if they want to actually stay in New York City and, if not, help them get to their desired destinations,” New York City Democratic Mayor Eric Adams said in a press statement on Monday.
“This is not an everyday homelessness crisis, but a humanitarian crisis that requires a different approach, and these humanitarian emergency response centers will take on a multitude of looks with the similarities that they will all help triage and provide immediate support to arriving asylum seekers. We will continue to respond with care and compassion as we deal with this humanitarian crisis made by human hands,” he added.
As of Monday, the city claims at least 18,600 asylum seekers have entered the city. To respond, a temporary humanitarian relief center has been set up at The Row hotel in Manhattan to initially serve 200 families, with the potential to serve additional families in the weeks ahead.
The mayor’s statement noted that 46 hotels citywide have served as emergency shelters. The Randall’s Island Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center, only serving adults, is expected to open soon.
Camp for asylum seekers is taking shape on Randall’s Island. Story TK. pic.twitter.com/t3xazZutvu
— Gwynne Hogan (@GwynneFitz) October 11, 2022
The Randall’s Island location is expected to provide temporary shelter in tents to 500 adults. Adams recently stated that the city did not ask for this crisis, but is seeking to respond to the growing needs.
“This crisis is not one of our own making, but one that will affect everyone in this city,” Adams said.
“New Yorkers are angry. I’m angry, too. We have not asked for this,” he added. “There was never any agreement to take on the job of supporting thousands of asylum seekers.”
Eric Adams declares a state of emergency over NYC’s immigrant crisis:
“We have not asked for this. There was never any agreement to take on the job of supporting thousands of asylum seekers.”pic.twitter.com/3mOmtoTjCS
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) October 7, 2022
Despite the declaration of an emergency and much effort to address the city’s growing migrant crisis, the levels pale in comparison to the number of migrants at the nation’s southern border.
A new online dashboard released by the city of El Paso along the border of Texas recorded 13,000 migrants passed through the city in September alone. More than 62,000 passed through the city from April to mid-September in the community of approximately 974,000 people.
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