Feds sign off on plan to bring migrant shelter to Floyd Bennett Field
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Floyd Bennett Field will be used in the near future as a shelter for migrants, Governor Kathy Hochul announced on Monday, Aug. 21, 2023. AP file photo by Chris Hawley
By Jacob Kaye
Governor Kathy Hochul said on Monday that she and the Biden administration had struck a deal to house more than 2,000 asylum seekers at a historic former naval air station just north of the Rockaway peninsula.
Despite reported reluctance over the plan from the federal government, the Biden administration has now agreed to allow the state to offer temporary shelter to migrants at Floyd Bennett Field, a federally-owned former military base located in South Brooklyn along Jamaica Bay.
The announcement, made by the governor on Monday, comes as the city and state struggle to house and support the over 100,000 migrants who have arrived in the Empire State in the past year.
Though the 1,600-acre greenspace overseen by the National Parks Service has yet to be turned over to the state’s hands to house migrants, the governor said that the federal government had provided the state with “a tentative contract that would allow New York to utilize Floyd Bennett Field as a shelter for asylum seekers.”
The contract comes after “months of negotiations,” according to the governor.
“Once the final agreement is signed, we will work with Mayor [Eric[ Adams and his team to set up a Humanitarian Emergency Relief and Response Center at Floyd Bennett Field with the capacity to shelter more than 2,000 asylum seekers,” Hochul said on Monday. “We are grateful to President Biden for his support of this initiative and committed to continuing our advocacy on behalf of the people of New York.”
The governor learned of and announced the agreement while speaking with reporters at an unrelated press conference on Monday.
Before being told that the deal had been struck, she told the press that her office was negotiating the terms of the agreement with the Biden administration late into Sunday night.
Like other Humanitarian Emergency Relief and Response Centers, otherwise known as HERRCs in New York City, including the controversial tent shelter that just recently opened at the site of the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in Queens, the Floyd Bennett Field shelter is expected to be made available only to single men, potentially clearing up space in hotels for families with children, the governor said.
Also like other shelters built by the city, the Floyd Bennett Field proposal has received pushback from local elected officials.
Queens City Councilmember Joann Ariola, the Republican elected official who represents nearby Rockaway, said in May when Hochul first floated the plan that she opposed “such a proposal with every fiber of my being.”
The proposal was first made when the city had seen around 40,000 migrants arrive to its shores – more than double have come to the city in the months since.
Similar to arguments that were made against housing migrants at Creedmoor or at the Aqueduct Racetrack – a proposal that has yet to be acted on – Ariola cited concerns over the area’s lack of proximity to public transportation and said that she was worried housing the migrants would put a strain on city services.
“Opening additional migrant shelters within the five boroughs – even if they are placed on federal land using federal resources – will undoubtedly add to the strain that our city is already experiencing as a result of this wave of newcomers,” Ariola said in May. “Unless the governor intends for the federal government to also build a completely new, federally funded transportation network in the area, as well as federal schools and medical facilities, then this is something that will add undue burden to an already struggling system.”
On Monday, Ariola’s chief of staff, Phyllis Inserillo, said that her office and the office of Councilmember Mercedes Narcisse, who represents the district that includes Floyd Bennett Field, had yet to be contacted by the mayor or governor’s office about the plan.
“Our offices will continue to work together, with the Mayor’s Office, and alert D32 if a lease is signed by the city/state to use the property,” Inserillo said.
But the Queens councilmember’s view on using Floyd Bennett Field as a temporary shelter site remains the same, her top staffer said.
“Councilwoman Ariola continues to be opposed to the use of our National Parks as migrant base camps and wants to see a better solution for asylum seekers at our borders,” Ariola said.
Like Ariola, the governor and mayor have also advocated for providing additional solutions to the crisis, including creating and instituting a decompression strategy at the border and granting work authorization to those seeking asylum.
Governor Kathy Hochul struck a deal with the Biden administration to bring a migrant shelter to Floyd Bennett Field on Monday, Aug 21, 2023. Photo by Don Pollard / Office of Governor Kathy Hochul.
On Monday, Hochul said that she will continue to call on the president to take executive action to allow for migrants to work, supporting themselves and their families and potentially taking them out of the state and city’s care.
"Ultimately the path out of this crisis is granting work authorization immediately, so these individuals can move out of shelter and into independent living arrangements,” Hochul said.
“This site will be critical in the interim for the City of New York to provide humanitarian aid, as we work collectively to get people on the path to asylum seeker status and legal work,” she added.
In addition to the Floyd Bennett Field shelter, Hochul also announced this week that the state would be pouring $20 million in programs aimed at connecting asylum seekers with case workers, who will aid them in their attempts to exit a shelter or apply for asylum.
The funds are expected to aid 30,000 asylum seekers currently being sheltered by New York City Health + Hospitals, New York City Emergency Management and the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
The governor said that the migrants under the city’s care will be connected with case management services from the time that they arrive in the five boroughs, with the ultimate goal of exiting shelter.
As of last week, there were around 83,000 people being housed in the city’s shelter. The average length of stay for those in the city’s shelter system has also been increasing, according to the New York City comptroller’s office.
Hochul has been criticized for what some say has been a lack of a response from the state to address the migrant crisis. The governor and the state are currently engaged in ongoing litigation in relation to the crisis and arguing that the state is not required to meet right to shelter rules, which have also been challenged by Adams.
On Monday, the Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless released a joint statement in support of Hochul’s plan to bring migrants to Floyd Bennett Field and in support of her funding announcement. However, they also expressed some reservations about the work she’s done thus far in relation to the crisis and what she will do in the future.
“We welcome these additional resources from Governor Hochul and her Administration in what we hope is the start of a more meaningful commitment to provide the City with funding, staffing, facilities, coordination and more to avoid another nightmarish scenario where people are relegated to the streets and exposed to the elements,” the organizations said.
“However, the devil is in the details, and we need more information from the State, including a concrete timeline for transitioning 30,000 new arrivals out of shelter and securing those individuals work authorization, as well as information on the transportation and other critical services that will be made available to new arrivals once Floyd Bennett Field is operational,” the added. “We hope that this is the beginning of the Governor galvanizing the full weight and authority of the State to address an emergency that warrants a whole-of-government response to ensure the safety and well-being of our newest neighbors.”
