Mayor Eric Adams is considering a plan to shelter migrants inside tents in Central Park and other major public green spaces — a move that would place the city’s ongoing migrant crisis front and center in the eyes of New Yorkers as well as state and federal officials, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions.
Reports of using parks comes as city officials say they’ve run out of room in homeless shelters and emergency housing. Since the weekend, scores of mostly male migrants have been camped out and sleeping on the sidewalk outside of the Roosevelt Hotel, an intake center in Midtown Manhattan.
For months, the mayor has been sounding the alarm over the growing number of newcomers, sending a clear message to both migrants at the border as well as state and federal officials about the severity of the crisis.
“From this moment on, it’s downhill,” Adams told reporters on Monday. “There is no more room.”
Adams was slated to make an announcement alongside Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom regarding asylum seekers Wednesday morning, but canceled his appearance 40 minutes before it was slated to begin.
One person who was briefed on the plan but not authorized to publicly speak on the matter told Gothamist that the city is also looking at erecting tents in Prospect Park in Brooklyn and Randalls Island, where officials briefly opened a tent facility on a parking lot last fall. The Daily News on Tuesday reported that the administration is currently eyeing putting the tents on several soccer fields. That plan has sparked backlash from recreational users.
Fabien Levy, the mayor’s press secretary, would not confirm the discussions around putting tents in parks, but didn’t deny the plan was in the works.
“As we’ve said multiple times, with more than 95,000 asylum seekers coming through our intake system since last spring, all options remain on the table,” Levy said. “Our teams run out of space every single day and…
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