NYC's Roosevelt Hotel converts into migrant processing centre
At its peak, the hotel could house around 900 residents.
Having been closed for three years, an iconic New Yorkhotelis being repurposed as a migrant processing center. TheRooseveltHotel, located in midtown Manhattan's business district, is just steps away from Grand Central Terminal. At its peak, thehotelcould house around 900 residents.
It is now operating as an 'asylum seeker arrival center' as New York City struggles to keep up with the continued flow of migrants to the city.
The scramble for housing throughout the USfollows the end last week of COVID-19 border restrictions known as Title 42, which allowed U.S. authorities to expel migrants to Mexico without the chance to seek USasylum. Tens of thousands of people hurried to cross the border illegally before USPresident Joe Biden implemented a strict new asylum regulation to replace Title 42.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has called on the Biden administration to provide more funding to cities.
Adams suspended some of New York's right-to-shelter rules last week, citing the strain of housing asylum seekers, and is considering using school gyms as shelters.
"We know the people need help. It's amazing that we're able to help them," Paul Berkman, a New York real estate broker said. "Conversely, we've got American working poor families that are in desperate need of help. We've got an educational system that has been broken for decades. What about the American children? What about the vets that are being displaced? I just think that there has to be a solution. I'm not sure what it is, and I'm not sure if theRoosevelt's going to fill that box or not."
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