Creedmoor to stay open as city begins to shut other migrant shelters

The Creedmoor migrant shelter is staying open as several others in Queens close. Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office

By Ryan Schwach

The city will keep open one of its largest and most controversial migrant shelters as it moves to close over a dozen other shelters throughout Queens and the other four boroughs.

On Tuesday, Mayor Eric Adams announced the closing of 15 shelters citywide, including the large, Queens-adjacent Floyd Bennett Field shelter in Marine Park. However, the similarly controversial Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center at Creedmoor in Eastern Queens will remain open for the time being.

The mayor said the closures are possible as the flow of migrants into New York City has slowed in recent months and as migrants already in the city have left the shelter system, many because of time-limited stays put in place by the Adams administration.

“Thanks to our smart management strategies, we’ve turned the corner, and this additional slate of shelter closures we’re announcing today is even more proof that we’re managing this crisis better than any other city in the nation,” said Adams in a statement. “Our intensive case management, paired with 30- and 60-day policies, have helped more than 170,000 migrants take their next steps on their journeys, because migrants don’t come here to live in our shelter system — they come here to pursue the American Dream.”

As the city begins to shutter shelters, including three at John F. Kennedy International Airport hotels and one hotel shelter in Long Island City, some lawmakers are calling on the mayor to also close the shelter at the sprawling Creedmoor campus.

The Floyd Bennett Field migrant shelter is closing in the coming months.  Eagle file photo by Ryan Schwach

The Creedmoor shelter, which sits on state land and opened to 1,000 single men in the summer of 2023, had pushback from the start, with numerous protests and calls for closure from locals and elected officials.

Like Floyd Bennett Field, locals argued the shelter site was too remote from employers and other resources, and lacked infrastructure and transportation options suited to manage the new population.

“We have said – from day one – that the Creedmoor campus was an inappropriate place for a 1,300 [plus]-bed tent shelter for single male migrants, and that if opened, it should be the first taken offline,” Assemblymember Ed Braunstein, State Senator Toby Ann Stavisky, Councilmember Linda Lee and Congressmember Tom Suozzi said in a joint statement.

“With the number of migrant arrivals steadily decreasing, we have long urged the mayor’s office and the governor to shutter this site,” the officials said. “To hear that Creedmoor is not included in the administration’s lengthy list of migrant shelter closures released today is absolutely unacceptable.”

According to City Hall, there are currently a little over 1,270 migrants in the Creedmoor shelter as of Dec. 1.

The mayor’s office also said that the administration is continuing to look at the closing of more shelters, including Creedmoor, as the asylum seeker population continues to decrease.

“We're looking at Creedmoor,” the mayor said at a press availability on Nov. 26. “We're trying to downsize the population.”

The closure of the Floyd Bennett site, which is just a quick trip over the Marine Parkway Bridge into Queens, was celebrated by local officials who had brought legal challenges against the shelter when it opened last year.

“This camp has caused incredible difficulty for the communities it borders, and it has placed undue hardship upon the inhabitants placed there,” Queens Councilmember Joann Ariola said. “I am glad to see that this period has finally come to an end.”

Ariola, Brooklyn Assemblymember Jaime Williams and a coalition of Queens and Brooklyn community members had previously sued the city over the Floyd Bennett site, and argued that it was too remote and lacked the proper infrastructure to house migrants.

It will close by early next year, the city said.

Even migrant-advocacy groups called for the closure of Floyd Bennett progress.

“Housing families in congregate settings, such as tents in remote locations far from public transportation, grocery stores, schools, and job opportunities, has been a flawed and short-sighted approach from the very beginning,” said Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition.

However, Awawdeh said it's just a first step, and argued the city needs to prioritize pathways to permanent housing for migrants.

“We urge the Adams administration to take further steps by focusing on humane and long term solutions that truly support our newest neighbors,” he said. “This means expanding access to CityFHEPS vouchers to New Yorkers regardless of immigration status, investing in legal services to help people secure work authorizations and legal status and ending harmful 30- and 60-day shelter limits that create uncertainty and fear. These investments are essential to ensuring success for all New Yorkers, rather than perpetuating a cycle of instability and hardship.”