New York City will stop housing asylum seekers in hotels in the Hudson Valley, Rochester, and other upstate towns by the end of December, putting an end to a contentious practice that began last year as the city’s migrant population grew.
That influx, as well as the city’s efforts to expand its shelter capacity, have subsequently decreased. According to court documents, the number of asylum seekers housed in upstate motels has dropped to 1,100 from a high of 2,200 one month ago. And that number will be zero by December 31, when a contract with the business that administered the majority of those locations expires.
In order to make room in its overcrowded shelters as waves of migrants arrived and entered the system, New York City adopted the policy of housing asylum seekers in those hotels through volunteerism.
Those who stayed in upstate motels received notices in September that the relocation program was coming to an end, and they needed to depart by December 31. An “exit planning team” promised to assist them in finding new residences and provide free transportation. They could choose to stay in a New York City shelter for 30 or 60 days.
The city began relocating migrants outside its borders in May 2023, prompting strong opposition from local leaders at the first sites it had lined up in Rockland and Orange counties. Lawsuits from neighboring counties halted the city’s efforts after it settled roughly 2,200 refugees in 14 hotels across seven counties. The overall number of migrants never increased.
Asylum seekers stayed in a number of hotels, including a Holiday Inn in Rochester, three in Westchester County (Yonkers, Ardsley, and White Plains), two in Orange County (Newburgh and Poughkeepsie), and a Red Roof Inn in Dutchess County (Poughkeepsie, with a court limit of 86).
The city also used hotels in Albany, Schenectady, and Erie counties.
By mid-October, the city had stopped hosting asylum applicants at several of its 14 upstate motels, according to a Rockland County court filing. On Monday, it was unknown how many shelters remained open.
As of Monday, all three Westchester County motels were still in use, housing 145 migrants (106 adults and 39 children).
Much of the litigation that arose last year has persisted even after the city’s relocation efforts halted. Rockland County, for example, is still fighting in court, despite the fact that the city, stalled by temporary orders, has never moved a single asylum seeker into the Armoni Inn & Suites in Orangeburg, which was designed to accommodate up to 340.
Attorneys for New York City have asked a judge to dismiss Rockland’s lawsuit as moot because the city will no longer utilize upstate motels by December 31.
“There is no longer a proposed transfer, let alone an actual one, to Rockland County,” city attorney Joshua Rubin stated in a court brief on November 7. “To this day, the city has not provided temporary housing assistance to any asylum seekers in any hotels in Rockland County and has now determined to terminate its use of hotels upstate for this purpose.”
The city paid $3.3 million over eight months last year for unoccupied rooms at the Armoni Inn & Suites, paying $170 per night for each room it anticipated to use if it won in court, according to invoices from DocGo, the city contractor, discovered in August.
The mayor’s office announced on Monday that the city had offered shelter and services to over 223,000 migrants since the spring of 2022. It did not specify how many are now in the city’s care, but according to municipal council data, the number had dropped from 69,000 in January to 62,000 as of September 30.