J. had written to ask the status of the Radisson at 52 William, which the city had used temporarily as a homeless shelter. My latest intel on that was that the hotel had applied to renew its liquor license in January; the city had announced the closure of the shelter in April 2022.

But J. noticed that there are no hotel reservations available on the Radisson website, and the Department of Social Services, when asked about this address, had this official response: “Our teams continue to work around the clock to procure emergency shelter capacity. We are leaving no stone unturned as part of our emergency response, and we will continue to use every tool at our disposal to ensure that we are meeting the needs of each individual and family that comes to us seeking shelter.”

The state prohibits agencies from releasing the addresses of locations where social services recipients reside, but if we read between the lines on this situation and what we know of the migrant crisis in the news, it seems the city will use 52 William as a shelter for migrants.

As of May 14, 41,000 asylum seekers are in the city’s care, run by the Department of Social Services and Department of Homeless Services, and that does NOT include migrants who are staying with family and friends. And we know that number will grow.

The city has opened 150 emergency sites already, including eight “HERRCs” — Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center that landlords submit applications for — and the ninth is scheduled to be opened soon. My guess is the Radisson has put its hotel up as a HERRC. The Department of Health visits the shelter sites for both medical assistance and mental health supports for migrants who volunteer for an assessment.

When the city was using the Radisson as a homeless shelter it housed 74 residents, but the 21-story hotel has 289 rooms and another 20 suites.