Immigrants staying at Midtown’s Row Hotel shelter, an early flashpoint in the migrant crisis that started three years ago, have begun receiving notices requiring them to leave the site.
Some notices shared with Gothamist tell the migrants they have to leave as soon as early November, while others have until late December or February.
"We would like to help you make the next steps in order to leave this temporary emergency shelter, located at the Row," the notices state in Spanish, specifying a departure date. "After this date, you have to make a request to stay longer in the shelter.”
They further instruct: “A staff member will explain to you how to do this before the date indicated above."
The notices follow the Adams administration's announcement in August that it would shutter the emergency shelter, the first and largest city hotel converted into a migrant shelter. The administration said at the time it did not plan to renew the lease for the hotel, at 700 Eighth Ave., which expires in April. The Row opened to migrants in fall 2022.
Around 3,600 migrants were staying at the Row Hotel during the peak of the crisis in January 2024, when thousands of migrants were seeking housing at city-supported sites each week. The 1,300-room hotel is currently home to nearly 3,000 people, largely families, according to Liz Garcia, a spokesperson for the mayor's office.
The downsizing of the Row Hotel shelter comes as the majority of migrants staying in city shelters are now being housed in traditional shelters run by the Department of Homeless Services — rather than ad-hoc emergency shelters created during the height of the crisis. Only four city shelters are specifically serving migrants, Garcia said, down from a peak of over 200.
About 33,200 migrants are currently living in city shelters, according to Garcia, down from a high of 69,000 in January 2024. Those staying at the Row who don’t have another place to go will be placed in another city shelter under the Department of Homeless Services.
Some Row Hotel residents told Gothamist on Tuesday that they were worried about the possibility of being forced to live on the streets.
Estefania, 36, from Ecuador, who asked that Gothamist not share her last name for fear of jeopardizing her pending immigration case or incurring retaliation for speaking out, said she recently received a letter requiring her and her five children to leave by Nov. 5.
“What will I do with my kids? Where will I go?” Estefania said in Spanish. “All these things make me a little scared.”
Estefania said she asked a social worker at the Row Hotel about how to proceed, and she said the social worker told her she couldn’t relocate or receive other assistance until closer to her departure date.
Another resident, 39-year-old Arturo Perez, from Colombia, said he was unfazed about the next steps. Perez said shelter staff told him he would receive a new shelter placement in January, when he, his wife and three children are expected to leave the Row Hotel.
