New York City is moving forward with plans to open a shelter for 2,000 migrants at an airfield in Brooklyn despite concerns that the situation will be a fire hazard.
The city is opening a massive migrant shelter at Floyd Bennett Field in southeast Brooklyn.
However, the FDNY and other city agencies recently inspected the airfield and flagged a number of safety concerns, including that fire hydrants are far away, older, and largely “not reliable,” according to a summary report obtained by the New York Post.
“This is a recipe for disaster,” said New York City Councilwoman Joann Ariola, a Republican representing Queens.
“Floyd Bennett Field is a potential fire trap,” Ariola said. “If they can’t put out a fire there in a timely manner lives will be lost — families with children.”
The huge migrant shelter is set to involve four congregate sleeping facilities that can house 500 migrant families with children in tents on the airfield, which was converted into a national park. There will be 24-hour security.
The shelter’s heating and electricity will be provided by 21 diesel generators holding 564 gallons each, with a fuel truck refilling them each morning, although there will be no diesel storage on site.
Another concern is the city allowing e-bikes at the shelter. E-bikes usually run on lithium batteries, which have exploded and caused deadly fires in New York City apartments.
“We are out of room, and it’s not if people will be sleeping on the streets, it’s when. We are at full capacity,” Mayor Eric Adams said last week.
New York City is attempting to metabolize the tens of thousands of illegal migrants who have streamed into the city over the past year.
Since last year, more than 130,000 migrants have arrived, many of whom are still being housed on the city’s dime, causing New York City’s homeless shelters to reach their limits and forcing the city to open new facilities.
Recently, the number of arrivals has ticked up even more, with 600 migrants arriving in New York every day.
Over the summer, the city even resorted to sending flyers to the southern border warning migrants that there is “no guarantee” of shelter if they come to New York and encouraging them to pick a different city.
The city has already spent more than $1.2 billion on the migrants and is projected to spend up to $5 billion.
“This issue will destroy New York City,” Adams said last month. “We’re getting 10,000 migrants a month. … Every community in this city is going to be impacted.”
Earlier this month, the city started limiting migrant family shelter stays, requiring families with children to reapply for housing in the city’s shelter system every 60 days. The move is meant to encourage recently arrived migrants to find new housing.
A similar policy is already in place for single adult migrants, who must reapply for shelter housing every 30 days.
The move appears to be working — less than 20% of migrants who received vacate notices have reapplied for shelter.
Meanwhile, Adams is trying to suspend the city’s obligation to provide shelter to anyone who wants it, known as “right to shelter.” City Hall’s attorneys are fighting the issue in Manhattan Supreme Court.
If the “right to shelter” obligation is not suspended, the city must continue to find a place for any migrants who reapply for shelter.
In response to the lack of space, the city has opened more than 200 emergency shelters with plans to open at least one huge “semi-congregate” facility that will house 500 families, which could conflict with state regulations that each household get a separate room.