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NYC to close controversial Clinton Hill megashelter for migrants
By
Arya Sundaram
Published Jan 10, 2025
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Liam Quigley / Gothamist
By
Arya Sundaram
Published Jan 10, 2025
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A controversial megashelter for migrants on Hall Street in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, will close by June, the city announced Friday.
The shelter, which houses 2,431 migrant adults and families, has long been the source of neighbors' complaints about trash, panhandling and safety. It occupies a shuttered office building and is one of the city's largest shelters.
An additional nine migrant shelters, mostly based in neighborhoods with high numbers of shelters, will close in the same period, according to an announcement from Mayor Eric Adams' administration. Altogether, 10,000 shelter beds will be eliminated.
The Clinton Hill site is among a slate of high-profile migrant shelters whose closures were announced in recent weeks, including massive tent camps at Randall’s Island and Floyd Bennett Field in southeastern Brooklyn.
A total of 46 migrant shelters will close by June 2025, according to City Hall spokesperson Liz Garcia, who added that 191 currently emergency shelters house over 50,900 migrants.
The announcement comes as the number of new migrants arriving and seeking shelter in New York City has steeply declined. The migrant shelter population has decreased for 27 consecutive weeks and is at its lowest level in over a year-and-a-half, according to City Hall.
In a statement, Adams pointed to the newest closure announcements as proof of his administration’s success in managing the influx of migrants in the city shelter system.
New York City's decline in new arrivals followed federal action from President Joe Biden, who last spring implemented sweeping asylum restrictions along the United States' southern border.
“We will continue to do everything we can to help migrants become self-sufficient, while finding more opportunities to save taxpayer money and turn the page on this unprecedented humanitarian crisis,” Adams said in the statement.
More than 228,700 asylum-seekers have been funneled through the city’s shelter system since spring 2022. The vast majority of them — or 78% — have since left the city shelters altogether.
The administration is also opening a new shelter in the Bronx, where it will transfer single men currently housed at the Randall's Island tent camp, which is set to close.
Residents living near the Clinton Hill site have complained of excess trash, panhandling, fights, and high-profile crimes involving shelter residents. The shelter housed 3,350 residents at its maximum capacity, according to City Hall.
A shelter resident was charged in June with a non-fatal stabbing near the site. A parks department worker was also charged in the fatal July shooting of a migrant who slept in a nearby park.
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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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