NEW YORK (AP) — Around Manhattan and elsewhere in New York City, hotels that served tourists just a few years ago have become de facto emergency shelters.
The latest is the historic Roosevelt Hotel in midtown Manhattan, which shuttered three years ago and is reopening later this week as a welcome center and shelter for asylum seekers.
In announcing the plan, city officials say they are doing so ahead of a possible surge in migrants because of a change in policy along the U.S.-Mexico border.
As New York faces growing pressure to expand the city's shelter system, it is turning to vacant hotels to make more room for people who need a roof and a place to bunk down as they sort out their lives.
A legal mandate requires the city to provide shelter to anyone who needs it.
