By Gretchen Berger
There are now close to 7,600 asylum seekers who have been bussed from the U.S. southern border to New York City, a “sanctuary city,” by Texas and Arizona, according to Mayor Eric Adams. Among them are some who will find refuge on the Upper West Side. They will live at the Park West Hotel, a private hotel on Central Park West, in Manhattan Valley. It was used during the pandemic to house homeless women.
“New York City’s ‘right to shelter’ law requires the city to find housing for any individual who requests it — regardless of immigration status or residency — so the Adams administration is legally obligated to find beds for the asylum seekers,” the New York Post reported.
The hotel, situated on a quiet, tree-lined street opposite Central Park, has a total of 94 rooms. There are 126 beds available for the 30 families and 20 school-aged children who will be calling this home for now. Some of the refugees arrived Monday night and more are expected Tuesday.
Shaun Abreu, the City Councilman from District 7, is marshaling and overseeing this “very complicated and difficult operation,” a spokesperson said, “with the help of many government agencies.”
District 7 spans north from the Upper West Side through Morningside Heights, West Harlem, Manhattan Valley, Manhattanville, Hamilton Heights and Washington Heights. Abreu is the first Latino to represent the district. He is Dominican, from a family of immigrants, so “he really understands the needs of the migrants and has a great deal of compassion for the trials and tribulations they endured on their long journey here,” the spokesperson said. Abreu succeeded the district’s former Councilman Mark Levine – now Manhattan Borough President.
The asylum seekers will be receiving language services, case management, and housing assistance, as well as all necessary medical and social services. The children will be enrolled in local public schools. Abreu’s office is working to provide backpacks for each school-age child. Many people in the Manhattan Valley community have been reaching out and offering their support for their new neighbors as they prepare for their new lives.
Councilman Abreu sent WSR the following statement:
Just as New York once became a home for my family, we must make sure new families are able to call this city home. New York City has always stood as a beacon of acceptance in a country of immigrants. We will not turn our back on that reputation or these refugees today.
These families, fleeing poverty and persecution, just want to be safe and my office is proud to help make sure they get the services and resources they need. The Department of Homeless Services is coordinating translation services, housing specialists, and case management support. The 20 school-aged children will also enter our school system this year. We are actively working to make sure they have the wrap-around services promised by the city.
I have been so inspired by the support our community is giving these families. We went to the shelter yesterday to state clearly that our district welcomes them to the neighborhood. Time and time again, this neighborhood backs up its values with deeds. In the days ahead, we’re working with DHS to coordinate a backpack donation for families with children and we hope to offer opportunities for the community to help support these families. I’m calling on communities across the city to follow our lead.
Thank you CM Abreu for all you’re doing for the asylum seekers. Can either the WSR or the CM’s office share a list of ways UWS’ers can help?
Yes, please, how can we help?
Exactly what I was going to ask. How can we help? Teach English, help our new neighbors get to know their new city, etc….
Please let us know what these families need–sheets, blankets, towels? Clothes. Cooking utensils?Books. People to practice the English they are learning ? Be sure to spread the word where to donate what.
It’s amazing how NYers want to help ‘migrants’ more than homeless NYers. Why is that?
This is a crazy statement because the same hotel sheltered homeless women, without much ado, for much of the pandemic.
Yes. Now they are back in crowded, unsafe shelters.
Because much of the time homeless New Yorkers are drug addicts, and mentally ill and they refuse the hel that is offered.
Many who feel this way understand it’s not their fault they are mentally ill but the bottom line is there is only so much that additoinal help can bring.
these migrants are far more likely to simply want a better life and will be contribute to life in NYC once they get settled and employed.
Not true. The shelter population are people who need housing. You taking about a small percentage of the homeless population who live on the street.
Anthony, according to The Coalition For The Homeless in NYC, the primary cause of homelessness is lack of affordable housing, not mental illness. In City Fiscal Year 2021, 107,510 different homeless adults and children
Your shrugging dismisal of the current homeless people in NYC speaks volumes.
My thoughts exactly. Ready to help with all of the above.
I live nearby and would like to volunteer . I especially enjoy working with families and children. Please let me know what I can do to help. marjoriejborell@gmail.com.
I am moving soon and have lots of useful stuff to give away: clothes, housewares, furniture, bedding, cookware, books, etc.
That local public school is already overcrowded, how is it fair to the taxpayers when you keep squeezing more kids into a classroom?
NYC schools have just experienced a massive drop in enrollment. There’s plenty of room across the city.
Please post a list of what they need on Nextdoor. Many people will respond.
Let’s send Texas the bill! I am all for helping immigrants but boy the Texas Government must be having a good long laugh right now.
You do realize, Texas is having that amount (the total that they shipped so far to NYC ) of migrants crossing daily? Why is it Texas’ obligation to take care of people that Texas can’t simply accommodate? Federal government has a responsibility of securing the border. If the government can’t take care of people – it should not be letting them in regardless of intentions.
So true…and don’t forget that Texas does not condone and encourage illegal immigration. NYC loudly and proudly declared that they were a “sanctuary” city when the issue was a thousand miles away. Now that it’s impacting the city, Adams is crying foul…cowardly, hypocritical behavior of the worst kind.
Wow, that’s rich. The US has immigration laws that this administration has disregarded (and actively subverted) and NYS & NYC break these laws by declaring themselves as “sanctuaries” and TX should pay??? BTW, Eric Adams is crying over 8,000 people when TX has been dealing with hundreds of thousands for months. Get real.
Poverty is not grounds for asylum.
You don’t need to judge, the courts can handle it.
You can retrieve your conscience on the way out.
“poverty and persecution”
And we don’t have a law requiring you to help someone injured in the street either. But should you walk by and leave them bleeding? How about morality and generosity of spirit? And like it or not, we bear moral responsibility for US actions in Central America that contributed to, if they did not entirely not create the need for refugees to flee.
Nice going NYC.
We don’t take care of our own citizens who are homeless and poor, but we take care, at our expense, of people who entered our country by breaking the law.
Central Park West no less, such nice people we are.
We hear they are fleeing poverty and persecution but many I saw getting off the buses looked pretty healthy and well few, along with smiling into their I-phones and telling whomever how great it’s going to be.
And then we hear about the corrupt regimes they lived under, and I say blame their ancestors for not doing something about the bad governments that controlled them. We did, with the American Revolution. While things were going pretty well for a while we gave in and tried to be all things to all people. But now our country is circling the bowl, though we had a nice run. We reap what we sow
During the American Revolution, everyone had muskets. Both sides were similarly armed. Now, citizens in these countries face both gangs and soldiers. Automatic weapons, military armored vehicles. There’s no way a normal citizen can compete.
This hotel was a shelter for homeless women for the duration of the pandemic.
Then they kicked them out and booted back to overcrowded dingy shelters read up on it
Of course we would love to help and will reach out to any contacts you post. My grandparents were immigrants and we made it. Thank you for your help in this challenge.
Most of our forebears were immigrants, much as succeeding generations have willfully forgotten. I am grateful for what assistance my own ancestors received 125 years ago to create a better life in the US.
I suspect the problem many have with the current immigrants is more racially based than not. As my great-grandparents, they will add immeasurably to the future of our country.
Welcome!
New York doesn’t have a “right to shelter law” as much as a judge invented a constitutional obligation for NYC to find shelter for any/everyone. It’s not that common and its wisdom is not often discussed. But hopefully these families can get on their feet and their asylum claims heard quickly.
So “the aid, care and support of the needy are public concerns and shall be provided by the state and by such of its subdivisions” but somehow providing shelter isn’t include in the aforementioned law?
Can we donate kids clothes?
Texas and Arizona need to send the federal funds they receive for the asylum seekers to New York as well as the people.
WSR – We need to know how to help. Plse do a follow up. Thank You
Holy Name’s Thrift shop on Amsterdam Avenue and 97th St. is collecting underwear and socks for Asylum seekers.
The church at 96th St and Amsterdam (Holy Name-St. Gregory the Great) is collecting donations for the asylum seekers. . The parish office on 96th St. is open Mon-Friday 9:00-5:00. The thrift store on 97th St is open Wednesday-Sunday 11:00-6:00.
They request items be new, in original packaging and marked “Asylum Seekers”
Most needed items are:
Clothing, Underwear and socks for children and adults
Deodorant, Soap, Toothpaste and Toothbrush
Toiletries
Diapers and wipes
Feminine hygiene products
Tennis shoes
Small toys that can be hand carried
Easy to open and eat non-perishable unopened foods. (Ensure, applesauce, nutrition bars, pop-top cans.
You can donate online and items will be shipped directly to the Catholic Charities midtown building . Here is the link: https://a.co/cj1nKk
Volunteers who want to assist can call 212-749–0276 Ext. 112. Fluency in Spanish or Portuguese is a plus.
Thank you for your generosity!
Bear in mind that asylum is not guaranteed and if denied, they need to go home or become illegals. I can’t help rembering that the guy who attempted to shoot up St John’s was on an expired visa
Homeless is such a huge umbrella term. Technically these folks are homeless. Perhaps if Homeless Services classified people according to need we might be able to actually help more people with solutions that yield results. A homeless asylum seeker who is capable of working and just needs a temporary roof while they settle in is very different than a drug addict who has no desire to change and its why they are homeless, or a person with serious health issues where they can never work or take care of themselves even with supportive services. But the PC thing is to call everyone Homeless, offer generic solutions that aren’t often sustainable and limit our ability to help anyone. Except providers who make a lot of money.
Amazing we don’t help veterans homeless or not. We don’t take care of residents who are homeless or mentally ill. But if you come to the country illegally as an economic migrant you get everything.
I agree. It is amazing that many veterans get overlooked but again, maybe the root cause is harder to solve? Do they just need shelter or are there other issues like health, ability to work, ability to live independently or with some support,etc? The problem is we classify everyone as homeless. Its like a disease. Take cancer. Different cancers require diff treatments. Chemo doesn’t work for all. Some respond better to surgery. Its not one size fits all. Some may never go away. Neither is homelessness. We need targeted services which may result in acceptance that some people will likely always lead transient lives. And that may be their choice or the nature of their situation. Is it fair, probably not. Is it reality, yes. But what we do now, we are spending huge money and helping very few. Imagine those on the cusp who could live very different lives with the right support?
Totally agree. While we have an obligation to help New Yorkers who are sick, mentally ill, or homeless, we cannot solve the world’s poverty and these open-door policies–as well as the generosity of writers here–will only encourage more impoverished folks from around the globe to come here. We’re bursting at the seams!
Why have these people been sent to the most crowded city in the US? They are displacing our homeless!
I mean for example the State of Montana has tons of space AND a
tiny house village to house their homeless. Wouldn’t it make more
sense to do that.
While we are sympathetic to their plight it does strain our already jammed social services schools medical etc.
just a stupid not well thought out
situation
Really can you be that uninformed. Montana is not a sanctuary state…NY is. Hochul, Adams and the rest of the liberal politicians have no problem with hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens crossing the southern border, into states (TX & AZ) who comply with federal immigration law and are not “sanctuary states”, but cry foul when they arrive in their city. Can you say hypocrisy?
I agree. I have spent some of the summer in more rural parts of the country (in both blue and red areas) and in those places I saw countless help wanted signs for low skill jobs paying liveable salaries in those areas. Plus building housing in these areas is much cheaper than in NYC. The building where they are staying in Manhattan could be sold and housing and food for 10x as many people could be provided elsewhere. The same applies for homeless New Yorkers who do not have ties to the area.
And how about offering targeted student loan forgiveness to teachers, social workers, nurses, etc who move to these areas to support these immigrants?
I admire everyone’s desire to help but let’s do so in the most cost effective, meaningful way possible.
You should go ask Governor Abbott why they’ve been sent here, I doubt he’s inclined to reroute those buses to Montana.
Let Biden know so he will secure the border!
I don’t think we can legally turn people away at the border. They have to be processed. But the numbers are overwhelming! Over 100,000 in July! Perhaps, ads in these countries from people who have come here and found nothing but homelessness, shelters, lines?
NYC voted to be a sanctuary city. Montana did not.
Does Montana offer the array of services NY offers? Including immediate access to housing as a human right? Where would you go?
So your saying nyc is the only place these people can go? They want to work, how can they if the are not documented? People. Who need dishwashers can’t hire them can they.
If they get asylum status they can work. Many illegal immigrants live here work work off books. Is it legal? No. Does it happen, regularly.
Of course Montana has homeless services, lol. I come from a very small town with 3 homeless shelters (one for women and children only) and two for men, plus a Catholic hospital that was renovated to house people who are drug addicted. They all have job, education, and health services, and the living quarters are bigger than any apt I’ve ever had in NYC. Maybe if the refugees had the option, they’d rather be in Montana.
We keep hearing about the “poor families” who are looking for asylum in the US. Have you seen who’s getting off the buses? Young men, not old people or women with babies. Young, hopefully, non-Covid infected males.
Now we shall wait and see if the already higher crime rates, under Adams, increase even more.
The current administration should reverse their immigration policy. Instead of having the Press Secretary claim that “people are not just walking over the border.”
So many jobs can be filled by young healthy people. Look at app the help wanted signs?
How can i help? Donating, translating…whatever i can do.
They are accepting donations directly at the hotel. Donations of all kinds – clothes, school supplies, toys, shoes.
Everyone belongs on the Upper West Side, and we believe that neighbors have a huge role to play in supporting and welcoming homeless New Yorkers, no matter how long they’ve been in the City.
The Open Hearts Initiative has several ongoing projects to support asylum-seekers and homeless neighbors on the Upper West Side and in other neighborhoods throughout the City, and we’d love to welcome our new neighbors at the Park West Hotel.
If you’re a neighbor of this site and want to connect with your homeless neighbors, please reach out to us at info@openheartsinitiative.org!
Does anyone know whether the asylum seekers are being distributed equally throughout all neighborhoods or is this just occurring on the UWS?
How can we help these people find employment and permanent places to live?
The Coalition For The Homeless website states:
“In June 2022, there were 50,287 homeless people, including 15,866 homeless children, sleeping each night in New York City’s main municipal shelter system. A near-record 18,832 single adults slept in shelters each night in June 2022.”
“Research shows that the primary cause of homelessness, particularly among families, is lack of affordable housing.”
The resources going to these new immigrants should be going to people who are already here and are already citizens. If you don’t want to be heartless about it, then follow up on Carlos’s comment about rural areas in the US with “low skill jobs paying liveable salaries” and put the immigrants back on a bus and send them there. It would be a lot cheaper than housing them in one of the most expensive cities in the world.