A luxury apartment building in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City has been sitting vacant for years because the developers ran out of money. Recently, locals noticed furniture being moved into the building and immediately assumed that the city was planning to use the building to house illegal border crossers.
Someone in the Eric Adams administration must have heard the whispers on the wind because Adams himself showed up at a community meeting to assure residents that the property would only be used to house local families in need.
CBS News in New York reported:
Vacant luxury apartment building in Harlem will be used as shelter for long-term New York City families, mayor saysThere was confusion and anger Thursday night from Harlem residents over a homeless shelter coming to the neighborhood.CBS New York’s Ali Bauman was in the room for a community meeting when Mayor Eric Adams made a surprising change of course.Harlem residents went looking for answers Thursday night about a once-luxury building on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard.The building was first marketed as a luxury doorman building. Condos include kitchens with granite countertops and marble bathrooms. Renderings show it even has an indoor swimming pool on its roof.But records state its developers defaulted on loans.The development has sat empty for the past decade, until this week when neighbors noticed boxes of bunk beds being loaded in.”We were trying to find out what was going on, and we weren’t getting any answers to our questions,” Harlem resident Regina Smith said.They learned City Hall was planning to turn the building into temporary housing for asylum seekers.”No, I don’t agree with it turning into a sanctuary for asylum seekers knowing we have people right here that need the space,” said Tiffany Fulton, executive director of Silent Voices United Inc.
It’s very easy to understand why locals thought this was another ‘migrant’ shelter in the making. It really looks like the city got caught and quickly backtracked. Watch the video report below:
New York has serious problems. In addition to the migrant/shelter question, how does a city with an obvious lack of housing sit on a vacant property like this one for ten years?
Featured image via YouTube.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY