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Florida company gets $18 million contract for NYC migrant shower trailers
By
Arun Venugopal
Published Aug 14, 2023
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By
Arun Venugopal
Published Aug 14, 2023
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A Florida-based company has been awarded an $18 million no-bid contract to provide emergency shower trailers for New York’s asylum seekers, a development that follows weeks of complaints from immigrant rights activists and elected officials about the absence of showers at shelters housing migrants.
The one-year contract for Imperial Restrooms, a company headquartered in Hudson, Florida, is for shower trailers at “up to 10 sites” across the five boroughs, according to city records. The company did not immediately respond to questions about the contract.
The lack of showers has been a point of contention between immigrant rights groups and city officials. Advocates and some asylum seekers contend that not having easy access to showers or toilets is dehumanizing, while officials have argued in return that the city is caring for nearly 60,000 migrants and that its systems are under constant strain.
Mariel Acosta, a volunteer who has been assisting asylum seekers at a city respite center located at 359 Stockton St. in Bushwick, said a shower trailer has been in operation outside that site, but that shower trailers located at Hall Street in Brooklyn and at a hangar near John F. Kennedy International Airport are unreliable and that only five or six showers out of 34 at the latter location were open at the end of July.
“A migrant from JFK for example, messaged us ‘They keep them more closed than open and the sign on the door says they should be open 24/7,’" Acosta said in a text message.
Imperial Restrooms provides toilets and showers across the country, including for weddings, construction sites and emergency sites. The company, which formed in 2008, also caters to the film industry in New York.
Theodore Moore, vice president of policy and programs at the New York Immigration Coalition, said “the mayor has gone to contracting with a lot of companies that are outside of New York.”
“I do know that there are local options,” said Moore, pointing to Callahead, which bills itself as “New York’s largest portable sanitation company.”
Requests for comment to Callahead were not returned.
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immigration
Arun Venugopal
Arun Venugopal is a senior reporter for the WNYC and Gothamist Race & Justice Unit who focuses on issues of race and bias in our region. His reporting also tackles the topics of immigration, faith, and inequality. Arun serves as the regular fill-in host of the station's "U.S. of Anxiety" program. Arun was the creator and host of Micropolis, a series about race and identity. He is a contributor to NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered. He has appeared on PBS Newshour, On the Media and Studio 360, and has been published in The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal and Salon. He also frequently serves as an emcee and moderator of panel discussions on race, religion, and identity issues and has been a guest host of NPR's "Fresh Air." He lives with his family in Queens.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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