New York, NY—Today, NYC Mayor Adams announced that the City is opening two new Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers (HERRCs). The Crowne Plaza JFK Airport New York in Queens will serve 330 families, and 47 Hall Street in Brooklyn will serve 1,400 adults. Both locations have already been operating as respite centers, and the Brooklyn location will serve both as a HERRC and a respite center. There are currently 12 other HERRCs and around 180 emergency shelters for asylum seekers operating in New York City.
Murad Awawdeh, Executive Director, New York Immigration Coalition:
“New Yorkers need more permanent housing, not more temporary shelters and HERRCs. The City’s emergency approach is short-sighted, costly and ineffective, and repeats the same mistakes of the last year by continuously scapegoating asylum seekers for the administration’s own mismanagement of the shelter system. These large scale facilities are often located in neighborhoods with poor access to public transportation and wraparound services, and apparently don’t always have basic amenities like showers or proper access to bathrooms, making them ineffective locations for both the short-term and long-term needs of new arrivals. The Adams administration must move from an emergency response to one that prioritizes the long-term stability of New York families by ensuring increased access to CityFHEPS vouchers with expanded eligibility to those vouchers to all New Yorkers regardless of immigration status. It’s both the right thing to do to promote stability for more New York families, but also the most cost-effective measure in the long run.”