Mayor Eric Adams said nearly 7,600 migrants have now arrived in New York City since May, a human crush that has sent city officials scrambling to find them adequate housing.
“We have about 5,700 that are currently in our shelters,” Adams told reporters Monday during a press conference at City Hall.
“This is in addition to the men and women of this city and families, children and families, who need shelter,” he added, referring to the Big Apple’s current homeless shelter population tallied at just over 52,300, according to the city’s latest figures.
The ongoing surge is further complicated as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott continues to send busloads of migrants from the southern border into the Big Apple added to those sent here by the Biden administration.
New York City’s “right to shelter” laws requires the city to find housing for an individual who requests it — regardless of immigration status or residency — so the Adams administration is legally obligated to find beds for the asylum seekers.
The city has so far contracted with 15 emergency hotels to provide shelter to these migrants and other homeless individuals.
The city’s Department of Homeless Services even sent out two emergency requests for proposals since early August to operate an intake and processing center dedicated to the recent arrivals next to a 600-room shelter.
DHS is also seeking an operator to run and rent a 5,000 hotel room migrant-only housing network.
But the process has been slow.
Officials told The Post on Sunday that although they finally selected a finalist to operate the facility, they refused to provide the contractor’s name or its location. They had hoped to have the Midtown shelter up and running as soon as Aug. 15.
The city also has yet to select a group to operate the 5,000 hotel rooms.
