Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in Queens to be humanitarian facility for single men seeking asylum

As the number of asylum-seekers in New York City's care surpasses 56,000, officials Wednesday announced the opening of a new humanitarian relief center in the parking lot of the state-owned Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in Queens.

The new facility, which will be erected in the coming weeks and be operational next month, will serve 1,000 single adult male asylum-seekers, city officials said at a Manhattan news conference.

"This center will provide not just a place to stay but also critical services to support these individuals on their journey," said New York City Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol. " … While this is a large-scale effort, it's also a deeply personal one. Each person we're helping is an individual with their own story and their own struggles."

The new facility will provide migrants with access to medical care, meals and help with reconnecting with friends and family, Iscol said.

The state is providing the space to build the relief center and will reimburse the city for all costs, including construction, maintenance, and staffing, said Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom.

To date, she said, the city has spent $1.5 billion to house and care for more than 93,000 asylum-seekers — about 40% of whom who have already moved on — with that total expected to grow to $4.3 billion by next summer.

"This is putting an enormous strain on the system," Williams-Isom said, adding that the city has opened more than 190 emergency shelters and a dozen large-scale humanitarian relief centers since the crisis began last spring.

The city also has rented out entire hotels to house migrants and has put cots in schools and temporarily housed people in tents, a cruise ship terminal and a former police academy building.

And the number of migrants in the city continues to grow, with 2,900 more asylum-seekers entering the system from July 17 to July 23, she said.

Mayor Eric Adams announced last week that the city will start giving adult asylum-seekers in its shelter system 60 days notice to find somewhere else to live to make room for migrant families with children. Caseworkers will help migrants who are asked to vacate find housing and other services, he said.

More than 100 such notices have been delivered to date, said Dr. Ted Long, senior vice president of ambulatory care and population health at NYC Health + Hospitals.

"We're delivering the notices on a rolling basis, starting with the people that had been in our system for the longest," Long said.

With The Associated Press

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.