Mayor announces plans for asylum seeker relief center at Queens psychiatric hospital

By Marcia Kramer

Updated on: July 26, 2023 / 10:19 PM / CBS New York

NEW YORK -- With nearly 3,000 more asylum seekers arriving in New York City in the last week, Mayor Eric Adams announced plans Wednesday to open a new relief center at a Queens psychiatric hospital.

CBS New York political reporter Marcia Kramer says there's already community concern.

The parking lot at the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in the Queens Village section of Queens will soon have a new relief center to house 1,000 adult men.

"Construction will begin in the coming weeks, and we hope to open the site shortly after that," said Anne Williams-Isom, deputy mayor for health and human services.

More than 2,900 asylum seekers arrived in the city for the week ending Sunday, July 23, and 93,200 have come through the city's intake system since last spring.

Officials hope the Creedmoor site will open up space in other facilities for families with children.

Officials say they have already given notice to about 100 migrants that they will have either have to find other accommodations or re-apply for space under the city's new 60-day shelter stay limit for single adults.

"Over the coming months, our trained caseworkers will work closely with people to help them move forward on their journey and to find a place to settle," Williams-Isom said.

Councilwoman Gale Brewer tells CBS New York that people in the area around Creedmoor are worried already.

"They're already upset. I know that because I have colleagues, obviously, who represent that area, and they're upset because they are nervous about what is going to be the impact on my neighborhood," she said.

Brewer says people are worried about things that have impacted other areas where the asylum seekers live -- like the numerous electric scooters and bikes many asylum seekers use to hold down delivery jobs.

"If you're going to have 1,000 people in that location, there has to be constant effort for support in terms of what they need and keep them occupied," Brewer said.

Officials say that some 1,500 asylum seekers have already been bused to upstate counties that have been willing to welcome them.

Elsewhere in Queens, the former Saint Agnes School in College Point will temporarily house 300 men.

Meanwhile, Aqueduct Racetrack has apparently been ruled out as the site for another mega-shelter because the racing season starts in September.

Marcia Kramer joined CBS2 in 1990 as an investigative and political reporter. Prior to CBS2, she was the City Hall bureau chief at the New York Daily News.

First published on July 26, 2023 / 8:43 PM

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