New York City's frantic search for a place to house the thousands of migrants arriving in the city weekly is turning to the high seas.
The city is negotiating with cruise lines to put at least 2,700 migrants on a cruise ship that would be docked in Staten Island, a city official with knowledge of the matter told News 4 on Friday.
Word of a pending deal comes as the mayor declared a state of emergency in the city, saying shelter occupancy is at record-breaking levels and will only get worse.
It also comes amid an escalating fight between the mayor and City Council over alternative options for housing.
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After first moving to build a tent city on Orchard Beach in the Bronx, Mayor Eric Adams this week announced a move to the more accessible Randall's Island. (There were also concerns about flooding at the Orchard Beach location.)
But on Wednesday, members of the City Council proposed a new approach: housing asylum seekers in shuttered hotels, which have sat boarded up and empty since the pandemic.
It's in hotels similar to those vacant ones that the New York City Council is suggesting to house thousands of asylum seeking migrants sent to New York from Texas.
The City Council says there are 10 large scale vacant hotels in Manhattan that could be converted into temporary intake centers for migrants. The hotels have anywhere from 1,025 to 478 rooms, and migrants would stay there 48-96 hours before being placed elsewhere.
In a statement regarding the ongoing migrant crisis in New York City, Gov. Kathy Hochul's office said: "Governor Hochul remains concerned about the safety and well-being of asylum seekers who are coming to our state, and we continue to coordinate closely with the City on the immediate response and support their requests for federal assistance."
