City to close last migrant shelter as Mamdani seeks to end crisis-era shelter and Rikers policies | amNewYork

"New York City will close its last remaining emergency migrant shelter by the end of the year, according to a plan that the Mamdani administration released on Thursday. The effort aims to unwind crisis-era shelter policies and bring the system back into compliance with right-to-shelter requirements and local laws. The facility, a Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center (or HERRC), in the Bronx's Mott Haven neighborhood, is the final shelter operating outside the traditional Department of Homeless Services system."

"In the face of community opposition, it opened in Feb. 2025 with a capacity for roughly 2,200 single adults and currently houses about 1,950 people, according to the city's 45-day action plan. Under the plan, all residents will be transitioned into standard DHS facilities by the end of calendar year 2026. To close it, the administration plans a phased transition. That includes opening several new compliant shelters that were delayed under the previous administration and reallocating capacity within the existing system."

"As the number of families with children in shelters declines, the city plans to convert some hotel rooms currently used for families into beds for single adult men, timing those moves to minimize disruption. City officials are framing the move as the formal end of the emergency shelter structure built during the height of the migrant influx. Beginning in 2022, the city opened 258 emergency shelters including 18 HERRCs to house more than 237,000 asylum seekers who sought shelter between spring 2022 and June 2025."

New York City will close its final emergency migrant shelter, a HERRC in Mott Haven, and transition all residents into standard Department of Homeless Services facilities by the end of calendar year 2026. The closure will follow a phased transition that opens delayed compliant shelters, reallocates capacity within the existing system, and converts declining family hotel rooms into beds for single adult men timed to minimize disruption. The HERRC opened in Feb. 2025 with capacity for roughly 2,200 single adults and currently houses about 1,950 people. The city opened 258 emergency shelters beginning in 2022; asylum seeker counts fell from about 69,000 in Jan. 2025 to roughly 30,000 by Feb. 2026, with about 88,000 people still in shelter citywide.

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