Migrants on line at the re-ticketing center at St. Brigid School in the East Village in January 2024.
File photo/Dean Moses
New Yorkers and advocates for the homeless are angry, saying the city isn’t doing enough to help the hundreds of migrants lining up each day outside the East Village’s St. Brigid’s shelter reapplication center, hoping for a place to sleep as winter-time temperatures continue to drop.
The city is using the former St. Brigid’s School, located at Avenue B and East 7th Street, as a respite center where migrants can briefly warm up, get food and reapply for a stay in a city shelter. But the queue to get inside is so long, that many standing in line don’t make it inside before the site closes, often leaving them to sleep outside the building or in nearby Tompkins Square Park.
The line at St. Brigid’s is comprised mostly of men, though there are some women and children. All are seeking a new place to sleep, having been evicted after reaching the city’s new shelter limit, which is 60 days for families and 30 days for individuals.
Many residents who live in Manhattan’s Community Board 3 confines, which includes the East Village, say it is “imperative” to move people inside and out of the cold, calling it a “humanitarian crisis” that the city needs to address.
Jess Beck, who lives in the East Village, is one of many neighborhood residents advocating for more help for the migrants.
“I feel that the city dropped the ball in a major way. The administration is logistically challenged,” Beck said. “They seem to lack the creativity and the political will to put the city’s vast resources to work on this problem. In some ways, to me, it appears they don’t want to put the city’s resources to work.”
amNewYork Metro sent requests to the city about the issue but did not receive a response.
Community board concerns
Some of the community board’s concerns include lack of accessible bathrooms, food and warmth….
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