As New York City opens 12th emergency relief center for asylum seekers, poll shows residents are reluctant to help
NEW YORK -- As yet another wave of asylum seekers arrives in New York City, new polls show New Yorkers are not willing to help the city put out a welcome mat.
CBS New York political reporter Marcia Kramer says the reluctance to offer a helping hand comes as the city reaches a tipping point.
City officials are preparing a new mega-shelter for 500 migrant families with kids in a former student housing complex in the Carnegie Hill section of Manhattan as another 2,500 asylum seekers arrived in the city last week, bringing the total to a whopping 81,200.
The new center is the city's 12th emergency relief center, bringing the total number of shelters and relief centers here to 176.
"And with over 50,000 asylum seekers currently in our care, at this point, we now have more people in the city's care that are seeking asylum than long-time unhoused New Yorkers," New York City Deputy Mayor Anne Williams-Isom said.
The deputy mayor says that means the city has reached the "tipping point" and desperately needs federal assistance to continue to deal with the new waves of arrivals.
"A city cannot be asked to solve a national problem," Williams-Isom said.
This comes as a new Siena poll shows New Yorkers remain unwilling to pitch in and help with the asylum seeker problem.
By 54% to 33%, voters are opposed to using SUNY dorms to house asylum seekers.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has suggested lodging asylum seekers at campuses in Buffalo, Albany and Stony Brook, Long Island.
By a margin of 46% to 40%, New Yorkers oppose relocating asylum seekers to other counties in the state. City residents, however, favor the move 51% to 36%.
In addition to the new family shelter, the city announced $2.3 million in grants to nonprofit organizations throughout the city to establish navigation centers to provide needed services.
"Everything from case management, reorientation, mental health services, enrollment to schools, IDNYC and much more," said Manuel Castro, commissioner of the mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs.
Mayor Eric Adams and city officials have repeatedly asked the federal government to do more to help the city. Officials estimate the bill for aiding asylum seekers will be over $4 billion.
