The controversial migrant shelter at Brooklyn’s Floyd Bennett Field will be shuttered in January as the number of asylum seekers in the Big Apple plummet to the lowest levels in more than 17 months, City Hall officials said.
The Floyd Bennett Field location is one of 25 city-run emergency shelters across the city and upstate New York that have either already been closed or will be shut down in the coming months, Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday.
“Thanks to our smart management strategies, we’ve turned the corner, and this additional slate of shelter closures we’re announcing today is even more proof that we’re managing this crisis better than any other city in the nation,” Adams said in a statement.
The number of migrants in the Big Apple has dropped to under 55,000 since from a peak in June 2023 of more than 65,000.
Floyd Bennett Field’s shelter has been at the center of New York’s heated migrant debates since it opened in August 2023. Locals in Marine Park, the Rockaways, and other communities have consistently complained about the revolving door of migrants taking up their space.
“At the height of this humanitarian response, the Floyd Bennett Field activation served as a relief valve to provide critical shelter and resources to hundreds of families at their greatest time of need; and it has continued to serve as an integral component of the unprecedented system we established to receive and care for the more than 225,000 asylum seekers who walked through our doors,” said Mayor’s Office of Asylum Seeker Operations Executive Director Molly Schaeffer.
“Today’s announcement is a direct reflection of the tireless commitment of our teams and the tremendous work they do every day to ensure that people are ready to move on to the next steps in their journeys to self-sufficiency. New York City continues to lead from the front,” said Schaeffer.
Fed-up residents living near city shelters have claimed that the new arrivals have brought more shoplifting, panhandling, gutter scams, and other degenerative activity to their neighborhoods.
The former airfield just off Flatbush Avenue hasn’t just been dangerous for locals, but oftentimes the migrants themselves. Last December, one asylum seeker faced domestic assault, while others faced a gun bust and a slew of assault arrests.
Then, in January, nearly all of the migrants had to be evacuated from the airfield in the middle of the night as strong winds threatened to blow away the tents.
Queens Councilwoman Joann Ariola praised the Adams administration’s move.
“The closure of the migrant base camp at Floyd Bennett Field brings an end to a long, dark chapter in our city’s history,” Ariola, a Republican, said. “This camp has caused incredible difficulty for the communities it borders, and it has placed undue hardship upon the inhabitants placed there.”
“I am glad to see that this period has finally come to an end.”
Fifteen of the 25 announced closures span across four boroughs, including six in Manhattan, four each in Brooklyn and Queens and one in the Bronx.
The other 10 shelters are in upstate New York, including three in Albany.
Since the intensive case management services started in October 2023, more than 170,000 migrants have “taken the next steps in their journeys towards self-sufficiency,” according to a City Hall press release.
In October, Adams announced that the Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center at Randall’s Island would close on Feb. 28, making for 26 expected closures in the coming months.
Floyd Bennett Field’s tent complex can house up to 2,000 migrants at a time. It is unclear how many are currently staying at the shelter and where they will be expected to go following the closure.
