The city’s shelter system has hit its “limit,” forcing officials to house migrants from the southern border in gyms, including the old Police Academy near Gramercy Park, City Hall said Friday.
The extraordinary admission came about a year into a surge of tens of thousands of migrants seeking asylum and fleeing political and economic chaos in South America — a crush now amplified by the looming May 11 end to Title 42 restrictions.
Nearly 61,000 people have arrived so far and more than 37,000 of them are living in city-operated or city-funded shelter facilities that’ll cost the city an estimated $4.2 billion in 2023 and 2024 alone, Mayor Eric Adams has said.
“[Y]esterday alone, we received hundreds of additional asylum seekers and we reached our limit of new shelters we could open. We currently have no other options but to temporarily house recent arrivals in gyms,” City Hall press secretary Fabien Levy said.
Officials said the limit was logistical, but declined to elaborate.
The Department of Homeless Services is operating 122 emergency shelters — typically out of hotels — across the city; the Health and Hospitals Corporation has opened another eight barracks-styled facilities to provide beds and social services for migrants.
The number of emergency shelters has jumped by 10 in the last week alone, city statistics show.
City Hall’s declaration came just hours after The Post revealed the NYPD’s old Police Academy on East 20th Street has been enlisted into the expanding roster of buildings providing temporary housing.
Officials with the Office of Emergency Management were spotted Thursday setting up rows of green cots inside the first-floor gym of the Gramercy Park facility to prepare for an influx of up to 500 migrants.
It was unclear how long the migrants would stay there — or if the arrangement complies with court orders that the city provide shelter to anyone in need.
Officials have turned to the gyms amid a return of buses carrying migrants from the southern board to the Port Authority Bus Terminal, including one that arrived at the Midtown transit hub around 9 p.m. Thursday.
The roughly four dozen people onboard spent about four hours at the facility before getting moved to the Police Academy gym and a location in Brooklyn.
Another bus, with 50 people — mostly families with children — arrived shortly after sunrise Friday.
City officials have warned they expect the tempo to pick up when Title 42 deterrents expire.
Hizzoner has pressed politicians in Washington D.C. to expedite the process of approving work permits for the recent arrivals — and blasted President Joe Biden for not providing billions in aid to help cover the bills.
“This is in the lap of the president of the United States! The president of the United States can give us the ability to allow people to work. This is in the lap of the executive branch of the United States of America,” Adams told reporters last month.