Furious New York City residents expressed their anger Monday after learning they were powerless to stop a massive 2,200 male-only migrant shelter from opening in their neighborhood, raising concerns that the new facility will make their community less safe, especially for women.
Animated residents vented their fury during a heated Bronx community board meeting, during which the mayor’s office told them the taxpayer-funded mega shelter will open next month at a 275,000-square-foot former warehouse, according to Fox 5.
The new mega shelter will see an old 275,000-square-foot office building in the Bronx retrofitted for between $250,000 and $340,000 in order to cater to the migrants, many of whom will be transferred from the sprawling migrant tent shelter on Randalls Island, according to the New York Post, citing city records.
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However, residents say they are frightened about the prospect of such a large influx of migrant men being housed in the community.
“I have young women who come to me to study. I have never been afraid in the South Bronx, I am now terrified,” Judy Kudlow, an artist who said she operates an art school directly across from the building said. “I’m terrified for me, for my students. I will have to move… You have made a terrible mistake.”
Another woman slammed the situation, saying that New Yorkers are living on the streets while migrants are being catered for in these types of facilities as well as hotels.
Community board member Audrey Dejesus said she empathized with the migrants who will be housed there but feels residents’ concerns are not being heard.
“I understand people need a place to be, and it’s getting cold and everything in the future, but we feel like it’s a dumping ground,” Dejesus told Fox 5. “We getting the jail right across the street, and now we’re going to get a 2,200 bed for homeless men. No. Think about women and families first.”
The facility located at 825 E. 141st St. was renovated in 2017 and is currently owned by SoBro Local Development Corporation, a non-profit organization that’s stated mission is to “enhance the quality of life in the South Bronx by strengthening businesses and creating and implementing innovative economic, housing, educational, and career development programs for youth and adults.”
The mayor’s office told Fox News Digital earlier this month that despite the new shelter being opened, they are planning to close 46 migrant shelters across the city and reduce the total shelter bed count by 10,000 by June. The city noted that the Hall Street shelter in Brooklyn, one of the largest shelters being closed, housed 3,500 migrants.
The mayor’s representatives at Monday’s meeting said that many of the migrants have permits to work and will not be loitering around the facility.
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Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, a Democrat, said she wanted the site repurposed into a manufacturing facility to create more than 2,000 jobs.
She blasted the city for greenlighting the project before the community could gather to discuss it.
“The city hall administration owes us more than this meeting tonight and as your borough president I am firm in my opposition because this plan is misguided in the climate that we are working with today with a new administration in the White House it is unacceptable that we would even consider moving forward in such a fashion,” Gibson said. “People often say, ‘If you build it, we will fill it,’ so don’t tell me that the population of single adult men in the migrant system is going down and yet we’re are repurposing a building for 2,200.”
Diana Ayala, a Democratic councilwoman who represents parts of the Bronx and Manhattan, including where the shelter is set to open, said she recommended the new Bruckner Boulevard site, as well as other locations in the Bronx.
She said that the migrants have a right to shelter and the city is legally obligated to house the migrants.
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“They can’t leave them out on the street, they can’t let them sleep. On the street, unless they want to, they have to put them somewhere,” said Ayala, who praised the Adams administration’s handling of the crisis.
Meanwhile, Camille Joseph Varlack, the city’s deputy mayor of administration, said communication could have been better throughout the process.
“Clearly, communication could have been better before this shelter was cited, and we want to make sure that we work in partnership with you as we move forward,” Varlack said.
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