Some Bronx and Westchester County officials said they received little notice and details of the arrival of asylum seekers over the past week, after COVID-19 pandemic-era restrictions at the southern border lapsed Thursday.
Bronx City Councilmember Eric Dinowitz said in an interview Tuesday evening that temporary shelters have opened up in his council district — which encompasses the neighborhoods of Bedford Park, Kingsbridge, Riverdale, Norwood, Van Cortlandt Village, Wakefield and Woodlawn — and that his office didn’t receive much forewarning.
“We typically receive very, very short notice,” the councilmember said. “(The Department of Homeless Services), they open the shelter and then … at best they tell us a day or two before.”
Dinowitz said he couldn’t provide the specific number of shelters in Council District 11 because some of them aren’t only reserved for migrants and some have predated this most current influx of newcomers. He also said he’s tried to request specifics from the city Department of Homeless Services, but that the entity is “notoriously opaque about the data.” Dinowitz said he’s aware of a “handful” of emergency shelters serving “hundreds” of asylum seekers in his district, and that “if there is a plan to find asylum seekers permanent housing, it has not been shared with me.”
A spokesperson for New York City Mayor Eric Adams also said they couldn’t provide the exact number of temporary shelters — nor their locations — per the New York State Social Services Law, but confirmed with the Bronx Times that there were “more than 4,200 asylum seekers last week alone” who entered the city. According to the spokesperson, New York City is working to accommodate “hundreds” of migrants “every day” and has been saddled with the arrival of 67,000 since last spring.
Dinowitz said he’s mainly concerned with the amount of resources in his district that will now have to be…
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