New York City is preparing to turn the page on a significant chapter in its response to an international humanitarian crisis. The last remaining hotel housing migrants, the Row NYC Hotel on Eighth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, is slated to close as the city winds down its emergency shelter program for those who were bused north after crossing the U.S. southern border. According to a statement obtained by ABC7NY, the city has "successfully helped more than 200,000 migrants to leave the shelter system and take the next step toward self-sufficiency."
The lease of the Row NYC Hotel, which was the first to be converted into housing for migrants three years ago, will not be renewed upon its expiry in April. The closure represents not just the end of a contract but also stands as a marker for the city's recovery and shifting needs as the influx of migrants has steadily decreased. Mayor Eric Adams, speaking on the imminent closure, said it marks "yet another major milestone in our administration's recovery from this international humanitarian crisis," as per a report from CBS News.
The decision to close the Row comes after a decline in migrant arrivals and follows the city's earlier actions to shut down other emergency housing sites. Earlier this year, Mayor Adams announced his intention to definitively close 53 migrant shelters by June. As of this date, the city has shuttered 64 emergency migrant sites, including all tent-based facilities, according to CBS News.
In a similar vein, the intake center at Manhattan's Roosevelt Hotel was closed earlier this summer, aligning with the pattern of diminishing numbers of new migrants each week. At the peak of the asylum seeker crisis, the center assisted close to 4,000 individuals weekly; however, that figure had dwindled to just about 100 per week by the time of its closure. As the city continues to aid migrants transitioning out of the shelter system, Mayor Adams is affirming that the need for such emergency accommodations is no longer as pressing, with over 200,000 migrants having been helped since 2022, as he told ABC7NY.
