NYC officials visit Queens shelter where asylum seeker died
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Public Advocate Jumaane Williams visited the Queens shelter where an asylum seeker took her own life earlier in the month. Eagle photo by Rachel Vick
By Rachel Vick
Less than a week after a woman took her life in a shelter on Jamaica Avenue, city officials toured the Queens facility to try and get a sense of the conditions the migrant and others like her face upon their arrival to the five boroughs.
The scene at the Hollis shelter on Friday was not one of desolation, said Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, though he acknowledged facilities can prepare for official visits. Though he noted a sense of camaraderie among residents, some helping a newly moved-in family adjust to shelter life, he also noted reports of a lack of language assistance.
“We are at a crisis level, aloof our systems are beyond bursting at the seams,” Williams said. “It makes me really angry because… we saw this coming; we asked for funding not to be cut, funding to be added onto safety systems because we knew it was going to be a problem.”
“This has been a problem in the past, it'll be a problem in the future,” he added. “This was a preventable crisis and leaders failed.”
More than 13,000 asylum seekers have made their way to New York City over the course of the past several months, many of them placed on buses from Texas or Florida. Around 8,500 of them have been put into the city’s homeless shelter system upon their arrival, according to the latest estimates from the mayor’s office.
The Queens shelter, equipped with rooms that have kitchenettes, was not perfect during the visit, but Williams was unable to find glaring flaws while speaking with residents and from his own observations, he said. He declined to go into specifics about the shortcomings
Williams said he is, however, “very concerned” about the future of housing security in the city as locals struggle to secure affordable housing as asylum seekers from the southern border and around the world come to the city for a better life.
“Here is an eviction crisis looming,” he added. “Today it’s new New Yorkers but very soon it'll be New Yorkers who have been here pushing the system. We need a real plan.”
Leidy Paola Martinez Villalobos died Sept. 18 at the Hollis Family Residence, months after she and her children arrived from Colombia, Documented reported. Her husband told the outlet she had been feeling isolated from her loved ones and goals.
“The thousands of asylum seekers we have seen arrive in our city came to this country seeking a better life,” Mayor Eric Adams said after the death was announced. “This tragedy is a reminder that we have an obligation to do everything in our power to help those in need.”
Her death, amid the influx of thousands of migrants shipped north by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, was shortly followed by an announcement from the administration about emergency response facilities for asylum seekers as shelters near capacity.
The temporary housing inside a large tent for single adults will be built in Orchard Beach in the Bronx, as well as at a a second yet-to-be-finalized location. The tents will be climate controlled and equipped to provide comprehensive on-site services and referrals, according to the mayors office.
Plans to build the temporary shelter have elicited concern from advocates and elected officials for its potential to violate right to shelter laws, including by Williams, who told reporters Friday he had not yet been briefed on the details of the plan.
The mayor’s office told the Eagle that the administration held a briefing on the temporary shelter earlier in the week that Williams was invited to.
Under the provisions of the 1981 law, the city is required to provide a shelter bed for every person who wants one, with beds in single adult shelters placed at least three feet apart with mattresses and clean linens. Families with a child are entitled to space with a locking door, bathroom and place to cook.
Earlier this month, the City Council heard legislation to codify the rights and expand them to include the right to leave the shelter outside of curfew, access to laundry materials and access to equipment to change and bathe babies.
But in a statement that worried homeless rights advocates and a number of lawmakers, Adams recently said that the law may need a rework.
Last week, Adams said the standard ”never contemplated the bussing of thousands of people into New York City [and] must be reassessed."
As of Wednesday, Sept. 21, the shelter population was 58,038 people, a number that has steadily been on the rise.
“We are deeply concerned with any scenario in which families with children would be relegated to congregate settings,” The Legal Aid Society and Coalition for the Homeless said last week. “This practice, which has been widely condemned for its adverse and dangerous impact on this uniquely vulnerable population, is already subject to legal prohibitions.”
Murad Awawdeh, the executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition, called on the Adams administration to reconsider its plans for temporary shelter on Friday.
“We fear that what was meant to be a temporary solution will become an inadequate permanent one, which will lead to long-term negative impacts on the individuals housed there, as well as becoming a stain on New York City’s reputation as a welcoming city,” Awawdeh said. “Until the Adams administration provides an updated and concrete written plan that allows for input from organizations like ours, public health, and housing experts – to ensure the health and safety of all residents – we cannot endorse this effort.”
“The shelter crisis requires a real solution that meets the urgency of the moment with a long term solution that provides New Yorkers with permanent housing, not a temporary half-measure,” Awawdeh added.
The Asylum Seeker Resource Navigation Center is available for newly arrived, and mental health resources are available by calling 888-NYC-WELL.
