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Mamdani to close NYC's last emergency migrant shelter by end of year
By
Arya Sundaram
and
Karen Yi
Published Feb 19, 2026
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Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images
By
Arya Sundaram
and
Karen Yi
Published Feb 19, 2026
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The Mamdani administration plans to close New York City's last remaining emergency migrant shelter by the end of the year, according to a planning document released on Thursday.
The megashelter located at Bruckner Boulevard in the South Bronx opened in February 2025 and houses nearly 2,000 residents.
The site’s closure would finally shut the door on the city’s emergency shelter system for migrants that has accommodated more than 240,000 asylum-seekers, largely under previous Mayor Eric Adams.
But homeless advocates said the more than 250 sites propped up by the city — including at hotels and sprawling tent shelters at Floyd Bennett Field and on Randall’s Island — created a shadow system with less stringent rules and accommodations than traditional city shelters.
As the migrant shelter population has declined in recent years, the city has begun to close migrant-only shelters and transition asylum-seekers to more traditional shelters accommodating all New Yorkers. Starting next year with the closure of the South Bronx site, the city will no longer shelter new arrivals and longtime New Yorkers separately.
Shortly after taking office Mayor Zohran Mamdani ordered the city’s Department of Social Services to come up with a plan to phase out its remaining emergency migrant shelter and bring other shelters into compliance with city rules — such as providing kitchens for families with children and limiting shelter to no more than 200 people.
The six-page plan said the last migrant megasite operating outside the traditional shelter system will shutter by December with residents relocated to beds run by the city’s Department of Homeless Services. Other department sites that were quickly erected for migrants but defy local shelter laws will be downsized, relocated or otherwise brought up to code, according to the plan.
The city also plans to open new shelters delayed under the Adams administration and increase the number of people leaving the shelter system and moving into permanent housing.
About 30,000 asylum-seekers remain in the city’s care, down from a high of 69,000 during the height of the influx in January 2024.
Another three large shelters for single adults — which exceed the city’s mandated shelter size limit of 200 beds — will also be downsized or relocated by the end of 2027, according to the plan. These are general shelters for both migrants and other longtime New Yorkers, according to Neha Sharma, a Department of Social Services spokesperson.
The city also currently operates 112 hotel shelters housing about 8,100 families with children, according to the planning document. Mamdani also ordered these sites to come into compliance with local shelter laws, which require that families in shelters have access to cooking facilities — but the plan released Thursday makes no mention of when exactly that will happen.
The plan says the city will open new family shelters, convert hotels into permanent shelters “where feasible,” and try to reduce the family shelter population by ushering families into permanent housing.
Josh Goldfein, a staff attorney with the Legal Aid Society, said he appreciates the city’s efforts to bring all shelter locations into compliance. But he said rather than moving people around, the city should prioritize permanent housing.
“The solution is very simple and obvious and tested and it’s [that] you provide people access to affordable housing,” he said.
“If they want to drag this out and move people from shelter to shelter, yes it’s going to take a long time,” he said.
Nearly 90,000 New Yorkers sleep in a city shelter bed every night, city data shows.
“It’s long overdue to get out of having this shadow shelter system,” said David Giffen, executive director for the Coalition for the Homeless. “The city needs to make sure that it has enough capacity and that’s going to be tricky with the number of people who need shelter right now.”
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Asylum Seekers
Race And Justice Unit
housing
new york city
Arya Sundaram
Arya is a reporter covering race and justice. Got a tip? Email: [email protected] or reach Arya on Signal at 512-650-8767.
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Karen Yi
Karen Yi covers homelessness and poverty. She joined the WNYC and Gothamist newsroom in 2020. Before that, Karen covered Newark for the Star-Ledger and spent almost a decade working for newspapers in New Jersey and Florida. She grew up in Miami and has a dog named Cashew. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 917-589-1460.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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