Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, a frequent critic of Mayor Eric Adams’ response to the asylum seeker influx currently gripping the city, said Tuesday that the new migrant shelter that is going up on Randall’s Island is the “best of bad options.”
Williams, in a Tuesday afternoon statement, said that given the lack of support from Albany, and virtually no assistance from Washington, the mayor has been left with few good choices for housing the tens of thousands of migrants overwhelming the city.
“As the scope and urgency of this humanitarian crisis grows, the insufficient state response and near-total lack of real federal aid have forced the city – which has of course made its own missteps – to now choose from the best of bad options,” Williams said. “I urge Albany and Washington to see the reality of the challenges facing people seeking asylum in our city and finally step up, instead of looking away.”
The new Randall’s facility, announced Monday, will have capacity for up to 2,000 single adults. The tent-like shelter, which is already under construction, will rise across several athletic fields in the island’s southwestern section. Construction is expected to be finished in the coming weeks, the mayor’s office has said.
It will offer the same wrap-around services — meals, clothing and medical assistance — available at the other large-scale migrant shelters operated by the city, according to City Hall.
Williams also noted the new shelter should meet standards set by the city’s long-standing right-to-shelter law, which the administration is currently attempting to alter in court.
“It is vital that this new site meets the standards of New York’s right to shelter, and that it is constructed with safeguards against issues such as flooding and transit access which we raised last time one was built,” he said.
The new facility is being constructed less than a year after a similar tent-shelter was decommissioned after operating for just three and a half weeks.
While, as the public advocate charged, the state has not yet taken a comprehensive approach to addressing the crisis, it is covering all the associated costs with building and operating the Randall’s shelter. The state is also financing a separate migrant center currently under construction in the parking lot of the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in the Queens Village section of the World’s Borough.
The new facility, and Williams’ criticism of Governor Kathy Hochul’s administration, comes after a Manhattan Supreme Court judge last Friday ruled the state must pitch in more with helping the five boroughs brave the crisis. The judge, Ericka Edwards, ordered that the city submit a list of resources it requires from Albany to the governor’s office by Wednesday, Aug. 9 — Hochul must then respond by Aug. 15.
The public advocate, in his statement, also noted that communities where the city is siting new migrant shelters should not be “blindsided” by the news that a new facility to house asylum seekers is coming to their neighborhood. Elected officials from around the five boroughs have often complained about the city placing shelters in their areas with little to no notice, which the administration says cannot be helped considering the speed with which they must house people.
Williams pointed to legislation he introduced late last year that he says would mitigate against this problem. The bill — Intro 0780 — would set up a 15-member Commission on Shelter Siting charged with developing a plan for future shelter placements that prioritize proximity to public transit and essential services.
“My office has legislation to require detailed, public plans for future shelter siting, and passing this bill would help to prepare communities for the realities and responsibilities of helping bring our newest New Yorkers into our neighborhoods, not onto the streets,” he said.
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