By: Jennifer Peltz
The Associated Press//February 27, 2025//
Jennifer Peltz
The Associated Press//February 27, 2025//

NEW YORK 鈥 A Manhattan hotel-turned-shelter is set to close by June after becoming an emblem of New York City鈥檚 fraught effort to manage an influx of international migrants.
Mayor Eric Adams said this week that聽the Roosevelt Hotel聽and more than 50 other migrant shelters are no longer needed. Arrivals have plummeted in the past seven months, and the city has ushered many migrants to other housing and other communities, he said.
The closure also comes as the聽Trump administration聽takes a聽hard line on immigration聽and criticizes New York City鈥檚 hotel shelters and the Roosevelt in particular. Adams鈥 handling of immigration has come under scrutiny from fellow New York politicians and the public since the Department of Justice聽cited the need for Adams鈥 cooperation on immigration聽enforcement as a reason for its聽request to drop criminal bribery charges聽against the Democratic mayor. Adams has聽pleaded not guilty聽in the case.
Here’s a look at the Roosevelt Hotel and the trajectory of the migrant surge in the United States鈥 most populous city:
A Jazz Age relic becomes a homeless shelter
A few blocks from Grand Central Terminal, the Roosevelt Hotel opened in 1924. With over 1,000 rooms, the hotel was known for its grill鈥檚 house band 鈥 led by big-band great Guy Lombardo 鈥 and for being New York Gov. Thomas Dewey鈥檚 election-night headquarters during his ill-fated 1948 presidential campaign.
The hotel was long past its heyday by the time it shut down amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Three years later, New York City 鈥 which unlike other cities is legally聽obligated to provide temporary housing to any homeless person聽who asks 鈥 was straining to serve 4,000 migrant arrivals per week, according to city statistics. After opening many other emergency shelters in hotels and other spaces, the city leased the Roosevelt in May 2023 from its longtime owner, Pakistan鈥檚 government-owned airline.
A symbol of the debate over migration
The hotel was designated as an arrival center for newcomers to sign up for services, as well as a shelter for families with children; they can聽stay for up to 60 days聽without reapplying.
Inquiries were sent to city spokespeople Tuesday about how many people are staying there, and the cost over time. Adams has said the city spent billions of dollars serving more than 232,000 migrants who have shown up since spring 2022.
In Midtown Manhattan, the Roosevelt became a highly visible example of what city officials called a migrant crisis. In summer 2023, some people聽slept on the street聽outside the hotel, waiting for beds.
This winter, federal officials complained that the Roosevelt had become a gang hotbed, citing reporting by New York Post. The Federal Emergency Management Agency聽pointed to those claims聽to justify聽taking back $80 million聽it had awarded the city to reimburse the costs.
In a lawsuit over the vanished funding, the city called the news reports 鈥渦nsubstantiated.鈥 FEMA officials visited the hotel in September and reported no alleged gang doings, the lawsuit said.
Why is the Roosevelt Hotel shelter closing?
Migrant arrivals have dropped to an average of about 350 per week in the city, and the migrant shelter population has dropped from 69,000 about a year ago to under 45,000 now, Adams said Monday.
He attributed the decline partly to tighter federal immigration policy during聽the end of the Biden administration聽and the start of President Donald Trump鈥檚 second term, and partly to the city鈥檚 own initiatives, such as limiting shelter stays and buying more than 52,000 travel tickets for migrants interested in moving on.
What will happen to the people and services there?
Adams said those whose allotted shelter time runs into April or May will have a place to stay, at the Roosevelt or elsewhere. As for new arrivals, he pledged the city would continue to have 鈥渟ome form of intake鈥 to get people on their feet.
But the Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless said they鈥檙e worried that the city won’t be able to handle the need.
What will happen to the Roosevelt Hotel building?
That remains to be seen. A message seeking comment was sent Tuesday to a real estate company that may be working with the owners on the next steps.
Editor鈥檚 note: Associated Press writer Jake Offenhartz contributed to this report.