Asylum seekers moved from St. John Villa Academy shelter on Staten Island over fire code violations
NEW YORK -- Mayor Eric Adams announced new limits to the amount of time asylum seekers with children can stay in shelters as a controversial Staten Island shelter was closed after the Fire Department found serious safety violations.
It is one of several shelters the FDNY has zeroed in on for life-threatening lapses.
Monday was finally move out day at St. John Villa Academy migrant shelter. The 170 migrants there were forced to pack their bags and board buses for the Roosevelt Hotel.
It followed weeks of protest by local residents and elected officials who argued the quiet residential neighborhood was not suitable for a shelter.
"It saddens me that this city, the mayor, the governor, claimed humanitarianism and call us the racists and immigrant haters when they're the ones who used these people as pawns, putting them in these dangerous buildings," Scott LoBaido said.
LoBaido, a community activist, was referring to the fact that the shelter was closed after a Fire Department inspection found "a condition imminently perilous to life and property."
Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella said there were several safety concerns, including a lack of a sprinkler system, and lack of a fire alarm.
"We said since this facility opened and was proposed, it was not a viable entity. It was in the middle of a beautiful residential community," Fossella said. "And it was wrong, because it was deemed to be unsafe."
"The community did not deserve this. They had been dealing with a lot of police presence on their block, nightly rallies and protests. They were dealing with the smells of raw sewage coming from the shower they created on the site," Rep. Nicole Malliotakis said.
St. John Villa Academy is not the only shelter recently closed due to safety concerns. Fossella said another Staten Island shelter at the Richard H. Hungerford School in Stapleton was closed due to asbestos concern.
Last Friday the city closed a shelter at the St. Agnes Parochial School in College Point, Queens, also because of a Fire Department vacate order.
A migrant forced to leave St. John Villa, speaking through a translator, said he had been at the shelter for almost three weeks.
"But it has been a little difficult for us because, first, we do not have a work permit. Second, we don't know the language, we don't know many people," he said.
The Fire Department is also considering vacate orders at other shelters in Manhattan, the Bronx and Queens.
