Thousands of migrant families set to rush to reapply for NYC shelter starting this week
The first wave of migrant families to run out of time in the Big Apple’s shelter system is expected to rush city re-intake centers this week to desperately try to renew their taxpayer-funded housing.
The city has issued 4,300 notices to migrants with children warning their 60-day stint in packed city shelters expires in the coming days, requiring them to reapply — but with the understanding that any newly arrived asylum-seekers get first crack at available spots, sources said.
If families who reapply don’t get spots right away, they will be sent to special respite centers to wait till space becomes available, city officials said.
Mayor Eric Adams announced in October that migrant families would have to reapply for a slot in the cramped city shelter system every 60 days — with single migrants required to do so every 30 days.
The city extended the families’ deadlines till after the holidays, but they are now coming due.
The rush for spots is already under way for migrants without children. Those asylum-seekers have been lining up at a re-intake center at St. Brigid School in the East Village near Tompkins Square Park in Manhattan hoping for a spot.
On Saturday morning, the tension spilled over at the school when one migrant tried to cut the 400-long line, sparking a melee that left two people in custody and a pair of city cops with minor injuries.
Migrants with children are required to line up outside the Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown, which has served as the initial processing center for about 162,000 migrants who have flooded into the five boroughs since the spring of 2022.
Nearly 70,000 migrants remain in city care — with more arriving every week.
According to the city, the new arrivals will be given preference to shelter spots.
