City officials visit Sunset Park migrant shelter as total asylum seekers surpasses 100,000 in NYC
Officials say around 100 migrants are currently being housed at the Sunset Play Center.
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City officials visited the Sunset Park migrant shelter to check on conditions as the number of asylum seekers arriving in New York City since spring 2022 has risen to more than 100,000.
Shelters have continued to emerge across the five boroughs as the city faces a migrant crisis throughout city shelters.
MORE: Adams administration considers housing asylum seekers at condemned federal jail
Officials say around 100 migrants are currently being housed at the Sunset Play Center. Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and other officials toured the facility, saying that no one should be living under these conditions – and that it’s on all levels of government to lend a hand.
“One city is being asked to coordinate what is essentially a migrant crisis,” said Williams. “But imagine tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of migrants coming to a country, and the federal government and the White House is not responding.”
City Council members are also voicing their frustrations about the lack of housing, stating that the current shelter system in place is unsustainable.
“The shelter system right now is a housing system,” said Councilmember Alexa Aviles. “The shelter system should be a fluid system that helps people get housing.”
Local migrants who spoke with News 12 off camera say that they’re indifferent about the conditions of their place, but that the inability to get work is their biggest hurdle.
City Council members and migrant advocates say they will continue helping individuals seeking asylum and New Yorkers in the community get through this process together.
