New York City migrant crisis easing, but shelter system could take years to stabilize

HELL’S KITCHEN, Manhattan (WABC) — The migrant crisis is beginning to ease in New York City, and the number of shelters is decreasing, but officials say it could still take years for the shelter system to go back to normal.

On West 46th Street, Hotel Merit is locked. Its two dozen rooms are empty. The migrant families who once lived there have moved out and moved on.

“They’re very hard working people too, and they take care of their families,” said Hell’s Kitchen resident Bren Guillot, who lives down the block from the hotel. “So, I had no problem with them being here. I hope they get to stay, actually.”

The Merit is one of two shelter sites now closed down because the influx of migrants is easing.

In January, 4,000 arrived every week. Now, for every 600 who arrive, 1,400 leave.

“Many of them who are coming are actually getting out on their own within 30 and 45 days after being able to integrate and find their own place to, you know, rent a room,” said Murad Awawdeh of the New York Immigration Coalition.

More than 223,000 have arrived in New York City. Currently, 58,000 remain in shelters.

In January, migrants applying to remain in the shelter system waited for hours to be processed on the Lower East Side. That was no longer the case Monday morning on East 7th Street.

This was the same facility on East 7th Street this morning.

“We’re not out of the woods yet, but I’m very happy that we can start to talk about closing sites and not opening sites,” said New York City Deputy Mayor Anne Williams-Isom.

Eduardo Quinones-Araujo lived in the Merit with his wife and 5-year-old daughter for two months. They live now in Brooklyn.

“In Venezuela, I had my own business,” Quinones-Araujo said. “Here, I have a work permit and I’m doing deliveries. We hope to return home someday, if things there get better.”

The deputy mayor told Eyewitness News that the number of migrants arriving is trending lower, but it could take up to two years before the city’s shelter system stabilizes.

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