According to the New York Post on Sunday, New York City officials have so far been unable to open a shelter in Manhattan that they had wanted to have functioning two weeks ago in order to care for recent refugees that Texas has transported to the Big Apple via bus.
The Department of Homeless Services (DHS) of New York explained to The Washington Post that their original plan to run an intake and processing center for migrants from Texas next to a 600-room shelter at a hotel in Midtown is no longer feasible, adding that they have only been able to select a finalist to run a Manhattan facility without disclosing the contractor’s name or the facility’s location.
DHS stated that none of the 5,000 hotel rooms it is looking to rent out in New York City to shelter migrants had been chosen and rented.
Officials are now employing the cohabitation of migrants and New Yorkers in the city’s existing shelter system as a temporary solution. A New York Post investigation showed that although authorities have declined to specify how much the city spends on sheltering migrants in this manner, it may be more than $300 million.
According to CBC, city officials in NYC have also had trouble figuring out how to provide the migrants’ children with healthcare and educational opportunities.
“We are working at an extraordinary speed to bring emergency capacity online while doing everything we can to comprehensively address the unique needs of recently arrived asylum seekers who are coming to us in their greatest hour of need.” DHS spokesperson Neha Sharma said.
