Migrant shelter for 2,000 men to be built starting as early as Monday on NYC’s Randall’s Island soccer fields
Officials have confirmed a migrant shelter will be built for 2,000 men on Randall’s Island’s kiddie soccer fields, with construction starting as early as Monday.
The influx of migrants to New York City — including hundreds arriving daily — is “stretching our system to its breaking point and beyond,” Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement.
“It has become more and more of a Herculean effort to find enough beds every night,” he said.
Hizzoner said the state would be “covering the costs” of the shelter’s construction, maintenance and staffing, although officials have yet to say how much that will be.
The city last built a shelter for migrants on the island off Manhattan in October — spending at least $625,000 — only to shut it down within a matter of weeks because of reported lack of use, given its relatively isolated location.
A Randall’s Island source said the city informed local officials Monday morning that it was erecting the massive makeshift shelter on athletic Fields 82, 83, 84 and 85 — with “construction slated to begin as early as today.”
Opponents of the new planned shelter raged to The Post last week that the project flies in the face of decades of efforts to build up the sports fields for young people, including those looking for positive ways to stay off the streets.
“Surely a less precious space can be found, rather than alienating parkland, perhaps by using private rather than public space,” Randall’s Island Park Alliance co-Chairs Jonathan May and Nancy Neff wrote in a blistering letter to Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi last week.
Construction of the housing means over 3,000 hours of recreation for both public and private school children, as well as adult sports leagues, would be canceled, the pair said.
“Behind every hour lost are dozens of New York City children who are denied space and time to play,” they said.
“We urge you to select a site that does not mean destroying green fields, turning away young athletes and flying in the face of the many supporters who have worked for three decades to build this resource,” the letter said.
The group addeed in a statement to The Post on Monday, “While we are empathetic to the humanitarian crisis, we also understand that taking these highly used athletic fields offline is a loss for many NYC schools and leagues.
“Randall’s Island Park Alliance is dedicated to reducing the impact of the … facility and will work closely with NYC Parks to reduce the number of lost permit hours. The Alliance will also work with the City to ensure that the affected synthetic athletic fields are restored in an expediated manner, and that New Yorkers of all ages can return to play on these fields as soon as possible.”
Here's everything to know about the migrant shelter being built on Randall's Island
A migrant shelter will be built for 2,000 men on Randall’s Island’s kiddie soccer fields, with construction starting as early as Monday.
Mayor Adams said the state would be “covering the costs” of the shelter’s construction, maintenance and staffing, although officials have yet to say how much that will be.
Sources told The Post last week that the upcoming shelter is expected to be four times the size of what City Hall put on the island for migrants in the fall.
Opponents of the new planned shelter raged to The Post last week that the project flies in the face of decades of efforts to build up the sports fields for young people, including those looking for positive ways to stay off the streets.
“Behind every hour lost are dozens of New York City children who are denied space and time to play,” Randall’s Island Park Alliance co-Chairs Jonathan May and Nancy Neff wrote in a blistering letter to Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi said.
Sources told The Post last week that the upcoming shelter is expected to be four times the size of what City Hall put on the island for migrants in the fall.
“The thought of [up to] four times the size of the [former] facility!? Just, wow,” the source said, adding that the fields are costly turf, which “could mean a lot of damage” to them.
“It would really cause the cancellation of probably hundreds of youth sporting events over the coming months,” the source added of the plan. “[The fields] are heavily used now.”
The previous Randall’s migrant shelter — which garnered controversy for offering amenities to migrants such as flat-screen TVs, Xbox consoles, popcorn machines and foosball tables — only lasted a month because it was so sparsely used.
Albany has doled out $1 billion so far to help with the city’s estimated $4 billion-plus bill for housing and providing social services to the migrants. There are currently 57,000 migrants in the city’s shelter system.
Nearly 100,000 asylum-seekers have arrived in New York City since spring 2022.
The federal government has forked over $142 million to the city — an amount that Adams and lawmakers have ripped as insignificant.
