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As of June 24, anyone looking for shelter—including newly arrived immigrants—should go to the Department of Homeless Services’ regular intake centers, City Limits has learned.
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With the closing of the Asylum Seeker Arrival Center at the Roosevelt Hotel this week, New York City is not only closing a chapter in its long immigration history, but dismantling its two-tier system of separate shelters for migrants after more than two years.
Department of Homeless Services (DHS) traditional intake centers will serve as the starting point for migrants seeking shelter in the city, City Hall explained.
As of June 24, migrant families with children under 21, single pregnant individuals, and families with a pregnant member should go to the Prevention Assistance and Temporary Housing (PATH) office in the Bronx when looking for a bed.
Also beginning on that date, single men over the age of 18 must register at the 30th Street Intake Center in Manhattan, while single women should go to the HELP Women’s Center in Brooklyn.
While it was reported that City Hall would be returning control of all city shelters to DHS—winding down its sprawling network of Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers (HERRCs) for immigrants—officials said they will continue operating a limited number of non-DHS temporary emergency shelters.
The Roosevelt shelter, which has over a thousand rooms, had approximately 50 shelter households remaining as of June 11. In addition to the closure of the Arrival Center, the hotel will stop operating as a shelter by July 1, officials told City Limits.
Many of those who were staying at the Roosevelt—dubbed the “new Ellis Island” because it was the first stop for tens of thousands of migrants seeking shelter—were transferred to one of the last remaining HERCCs, at the Row Hotel near Times Square, according to advocates and families in shelter.
The city has moved to close 62 migrant shelter sites since last June, as the number of new arrivals continues to decline. The Row Hotel is not among those scheduled to shutter this year, a spokesperson said.
In February, when Mayor Eric Adams announced plans to close the Arrival Center, he called it a significant milestone in New York City’s nearly three-year response to the humanitarian crisis of asylum seekers.
In the spring of 2023, the city opened the site as it received thousands of migrants arriving by air and land on a weekly basis. During its years of operation, the hotel went through several political flashpoints.
The first occurred during the summer of 2023, when people vying for a shelter bed slept on the streets during a heat wave. Its name was brought up again in the political arena this year when President Donald Trump took back $80 million in federal grants, intended to cover services for migrants, from New York City’s coffers.
In addition to its role as an intake center for migrant families looking for a place to stay, the Arrival Center also offered immigration assistance, medical checkups, vaccinations run by NYC Health + Hospitals, and many more services.
Homeless advocates say their chief worry about the site’s closure is whether people will still be able to access these resources in the wider DHS system.
“Whenever a facility closes, whether it is a new arrival facility or otherwise, one of our ultimate concerns has always been whether or not the city has adequate capacity to meet the needs of the people that are being displaced,” said Will Watts, deputy executive director for advocacy with the Coalition for the Homeless. “We remain skeptical as to whether or not that’s the case.”
When asked which facility would replace the Arrival Center as the one-stop shop for migrant families, the mayor’s office said that DHS will provide case management services through its contracted organizations.
“It is obviously important for the city to take into account the unique needs of this population,” said Kathryn Kliff, staff attorney at Legal Aid Society. “We will certainly be pushing them to ensure [DHS] staff are receiving training about the kind of unique situation that these clients may be in that maybe the non-new arrival DHS clients don’t.”
At the remaining HERRCs, the city will have Behavioral Health teams to provide mental health support, crisis intervention, and trauma-related response, a City Hall spokesperson said (though Watts, of Coalition for the Homeless, said this will only be available to families at The Row).
“We continue to be concerned about the lack of case management, real case management services that folks need in order to be connected to resources, as well as legal services,” Watts said.
President Donald Trump’s administration has ramped up immigration enforcement in recent months, directing agents to detain people showing up to court for routine immigration case hearings and fast-tracking their deportations. Many don’t have lawyers.
For migrants in shelter, City Hall said it will use the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs’ connections with community-based legal assistance groups for referrals. People can call the MOIA Legal Support Hotline directly at 800-354-0365 (open Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.) for assistance.
According to the City Limits’ Homeless Shelter Tracker, most migrants and asylum seekers were already at DHS-run sites as of April.
Many new arrivals are still subject to controversial 30- and 60-day shelter deadlines. Coalition for the Homeless said the time limits remain in place for all migrants who are in non-DHS shelters, and for single adult and adult family migrants in DHS shelters.
When their time expires, however, they are no longer required to return to intake centers to seek out more time, but can request an extension at their existing shelter and should receive it, according to Legal Aid and Coalition for the Homeless.
Advocates have criticized the shelter deadline policy as disruptive to migrants’ lives, particularly for families with children who had to move each time the clock on their stays ran out.
“It completely gets in the way of services that they have access to, and let alone if the families have to move to different shelters and the kids have to change schools,” said Caroline Schwab, a neighborhood organizer with the Open Hearts Initiative, an advocacy organization that supports people in shelter. “It’s just really disruptive and makes it so much harder for families to gain stability while they’re figuring it out here.”
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