Adams says NYC looking at housing migrants in school gyms

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday that the city is considering housing some migrants in school gyms as it struggles to accommodate those arriving in the city.

Adams told New York 1 that the city is considering about 20 school gyms, each of which are separate from actual school buildings. However, he emphasized that it would be “one of the last places we want to look at.”

“We have an order, almost an order, of where we have to go as the crisis continues,” he said. “This is one of the last places we want to look at. None of us are comfortable with having to take these drastic steps. But I could not have been more clear for the last few months of what we are facing.” 

Adams warned last week that New York City would not be able to handle the expected influx of migrants following the end of Title 42. The pandemic-era policy, which allowed U.S. authorities to rapidly expel asylum seekers, expired Thursday.

In the days since the expiration, however, a border surge has not materialized, and in fact border encounters dropped, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Some Republican governors of Southern states have been putting migrants on buses and sending them north in recent months, though, contributing to the influx in New York City.

Adams said Tuesday that the city has received more than 65,000 migrants. Ahead of Title 42’s expiration, the mayor eased the city’s longtime guarantee to provide shelter to all residents and also began busing some migrants to counties in northern New York.