NEW YORK CITY (WABC) — The Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown will begin welcoming migrants on Friday.
New York City is expecting 15 buses of migrants to arrive this weekend.
The city is transitioning its welcoming services from the Port Authority where volunteers played a key role, to the Roosevelt Hotel which will be run by NYC Health + Hospitals.
The Roosevelt has been closed for nearly three years.
The COVID-19 pandemic put it out of business.
Now, Mayor Eric Adams’ office says the Roosevelt Hotel will serve as a centralized intake center during this migrant crisis.
It is opening up 175 rooms for children and families, until it is scaled to approximately 850 rooms.
Asylum seekers will have access to a range of legal and medical services, as well as placement, if needed, in a shelter.
Asylum seekers currently in the city’s care will also be able to visit the arrival center to access the host of services.
The hotel is anticipated to provide some much needed support in this crisis.
“It has overwhelmed our system. 65,000 people coming to our city, just a week and a half ago we had 4,200 in one week, in one day we had 900. The numbers are just unbelievable if you think about it,” Adams said.
On Thursday, some 80 asylum seekers were sent to the Knights Inn in Liberty, Sullivan County which has now declared a state of emergency.
“We fear that this will displace a number of our otherwise-homeless residents, who we house in this and other lodging establishments,” Sullivan County Legislature Chairman Robert Doherty said in a statement.
Additionally, the city is now working with a Red Roof Inn in Poughkeepsie.
“We have a challenge, there are over 71,000 people arriving. This is a situation no one asked for,” Governor Kathy Hochul said.
Mayor Adams and Governor Hochul continue to ask the federal government for assistance.
At this point, the city projects spending more than $4 billion over the next two fiscal years as a result of the migrant crisis, and as of now only 37% of that is expected to be covered by state and federal money.
WATCH: NYC officials call on White House for help with migrant placement
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