Blue city residents blast new 2,200-bed mega migrant shelter as ‘dumping ground’

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NYC residents blast new 2,200-bed mega migrant shelter as dumping ground

Bronx residents expressed their anger Monday after learning they are powerless in stopping a new 2,200 migrant shelter from opening in their neighborhood. (Credit: FOX 5 New York)

Furious New York City residents expressed their anger Monday after learning they were powerless to stop a massive 2,200 male-only migrant shelter from opening in their neighborhood, raising concerns that the new facility will make their community less safe, especially for women. 

Animated residents vented their fury during a heated Bronx community board meeting, during which the mayor’s office told them the taxpayer-funded mega shelter will open next month at a 275,000-square-foot former warehouse, according to Fox 5.

The building will be retrofitted for between $250,000 and $340,000 in order to cater to the migrants, many of whom will be transferred from the sprawling migrant tent shelter on Randalls Island, according to the New York Post, citing city records.

Furious Bronx residents expressed their anger Monday after learning they were powerless to stop a massive 2,200 male-only migrant shelter from opening in their neighborhood. (Fox 5 NY)

NEW YORK TO OPEN MASSIVE NEW 2,200-BED MIGRANT SHELTER FOR SINGLE MEN IN THE BRONX

However, residents say they are frightened about the prospect of such a large influx of migrant men being housed in the community.

“I have young women who come to me to study. I have never been afraid in the South Bronx, I am now terrified,” Judy Kudlow, an artist who said she operates an art school directly across from the building said. “I’m terrified for me, for my students. I will have to move… You have made a terrible mistake.”

Another woman slammed the situation, saying that New Yorkers are living on the streets while migrants are being catered to in these types of facilities as well as hotels.

Community board member Audrey Dejesus said she empathized with the migrants but feels residents’ concerns are not being heard.

“I understand people need a place to be, and it’s getting cold and everything in the future, but we feel like it’s a dumping ground,” Dejesus told Fox 5. “We getting the jail right across the street, and now we’re going to get a 2,200 bed for homeless men. No. Think about women and families first.”

A building that will become a migrant shelter in the Bronx, New York City. (Google Maps)

The facility located at 825 E. 141st St. was renovated in 2017 and is currently owned by SoBro Local Development Corporation, a nonprofit organization that’s stated mission is to “enhance the quality of life in the South Bronx by strengthening businesses and creating and implementing innovative economic, housing, educational, and career development programs for youth and adults.”

The mayor’s office told Fox News Digital earlier this month that despite the new shelter being opened, they are planning to close 46 migrant shelters across the city and reduce the total shelter bed count by 10,000 by June. The city noted that the Hall Street shelter in Brooklyn, one of the largest shelters being closed, housed 3,500 migrants. 

The mayor’s representatives at Monday’s meeting said many of the migrants have permits to work and will not be loitering around the facility.

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Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, a Democrat, said she wanted the site repurposed into a manufacturing facility to create more than 2,000 jobs.

She blasted the city for greenlighting the project before the community could discuss it. 

Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams approved the new facility. (Luiz C. Ribeiro/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

“The city hall administration owes us more than this meeting tonight and, as your borough president, I am firm in my opposition because this plan is misguided in the climate that we are working with today with a new administration in the White House. It is unacceptable that we would even consider moving forward in such a fashion,” Gibson said. “People often say, ‘If you build it, we will fill it,’ so don’t tell me that the population of single adult men in the migrant system is going down, and yet we are repurposing a building for 2,200.”

Diana Ayala, a Democratic councilwoman who represents parts of the Bronx and Manhattan, including where the shelter is set to open, said she recommended the new Bruckner Boulevard site, as well as other locations in the Bronx.

She said the migrants have a right to shelter and the city is legally obligated to house the migrants.

The Randalls Island shelter is closing, with migrants being transferred to the new Bronx shelter. (Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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“They can’t leave them out on the street, they can’t let them sleep on the street, unless they want to. They have to put them somewhere,” said Ayala, who praised the Adams administration’s handling of the crisis. 

Meanwhile, Camille Joseph Varlack, the city’s deputy mayor of administration, said communication could have been better throughout the process. 

“Clearly, communication could have been better before this shelter was sited, and we want to make sure that we work in partnership with you as we move forward,” Varlack said.

Michael Dorgan is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business.

You can send tips to michael.dorgan@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @M_Dorgan.