Thousands of migrant families are bracing to be evicted from their New York City shelter next month under a 60-day-limit rule — while the Big Apple has already flown nearly 20,000 other asylum-seekers elsewhere.
About 3,500 migrant families with children have been warned that after the first of the year, they will have to clear out of the city-run shelter where they’ve been staying and haul their kids and belongings to a Manhattan intake center to reapply for a new spot, thanks to Mayor Eric Adams’ directive in October that requires them to make the move every 60 days.
“The truth is, I don’t know where we’ll go,” said Bianca Guzman, a single mom of four from Venezuela, to The Post on Monday outside the Row Hotel-turned-migrant-shelter in Midtown Manhattan, where she and her kids are staying.
“It is bad to leave because the weather is so cold,” the 32-year-old mother added of her looming eviction, which was originally slated for the day after Christmas.
The mayor’s office confirmed to The Post on Monday that the first migrant families such as Guzman’s to hit their 60-day limit won’t be forced to reapply till at least early January, after the holiday.
Ecuadorian migrant Wendy Parra, 23, told The Post that she and her 3-year-old son are bracing to be kicked out of the Row Hotel shelter come Jan. 18.
“I don’t know where they’re going to send me or what’s going to happen,” she said Monday.
“I am looking for a job. I need the money to make sure my son stays fed. I don’t care what type of work it is. I have been here for a month and haven’t found a job yet.”
Under the stay limit, the soon-to-be booted families will have to return to the Big Apple’s main intake center — the Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown Manhattan — to reapply for a new placement at a city-run shelter if they can’t find other accommodations themselves.
Adult asylum-seekers without kids are already subjected to a shorter, 30-day limit on shelter stays.
Those adults who get kicked out but still require help have to head to a “reticketing center” in East Village to request a new bed. They are first offered a free one-way ticket to anywhere in the world — though many turn down the deal.
As of earlier this month, roughly 24% of asylum-seekers sought a new bed in a city shelter after being given their eviction notice.
As for those grabbing a ticket out of town, since March 2022, the city has coughed up about $4.6 million to purchase more than 19,300 plane rides for the migrants, in a bid to relocate them as Gotham struggles with the sheer number of asylum-seekers continuing to flood in, Politico reported.
More than 2,300 of those given one-way tickets opted to fly to Illinois, while 1,847 jumped on planes to Texas and 1,189 to Florida, administration officials told the outlet. Meanwhile, 2,261 migrants took up the city’s offer and have headed elsewhere in the Empire State.
The stay limits were implemented by Hizzoner because of the crippling number of migrants flooding into the city.
“More than 150,100 asylum seekers have come through our intake system since the spring of 2022, all of whom have been offered vital care, including shelter, food, access to medical care, casework services, legal assistance, and more,” a City Hall rep said in a statement Monday.
“But, with more than 67,200 migrants still currently in our care, and thousands more continuing to arrive every week, we have used every possible corner of New York City and are, quite simply, out of good options to shelter migrants.
“As we’ve said for months, we’re going to continue to treat people humanely, make adjustments as necessary, and do everything in our power to avoid having families with children be forced to sleep on the streets.”