NYC to house migrants in former Harlem prison after green light from governor

May 28 (UPI) -- New York City officials plan to house migrants at a former prison in Harlem after receiving the green light from Gov. Kathy Hochul, reports said Sunday.

Gov. Hochul has approved the city to use the former Lincoln Correction Facility, located at the north end of Central Park in Manhattan, as a center to house about 500 migrants as they seek more appropriate housing, the New York Daily News and local broadcaster NY1 reported.

The Lincoln Correction Facility, which closed in 2019, opened as a minimum security prison in 1976 and was managed by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.

Previously, the building had been used to house recently immigrated Jewish women during World War I and then as a center for soldiers during World War II.

Hochul has also been seeking proposals for the redevelopment of the currently unused, 10,000 square-feet site. Those proposals were due last week.

"We're grateful to the state for providing this site and partnering with the city to open this space as a temporary site for asylum seekers as New York City continues to face this humanitarian crisis," a spokesman for New York Mayor Eric Adams said.

Adams' office confirmed to the Daily News that migrants will not be sleeping in jail cells.

"The former Lincoln Correctional Facility presents a prime opportunity to transform a massive, abandoned facility into a community anchor and address critical needs like affordable housing," Hochul said in a statement in March.

"My administration will continue to think creatively and strategically about vacant and unused prisons -- including our review of the Prison Redevelopment Commission's recommendations -- to unlock our housing potential, grow economic opportunity, and move New York forward."