NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – Dozens of migrant men were found living in a Queens storefront and cellar on Monday, prompting authorities to issue a vacate order, while the store owner defended the setup and said the men had been kicked out of city shelters.
At least 40 people, all of them migrants from West Africa, were found living on the first floor and basement level of a furniture store at 132nd Street and Liberty Avenue in South Richmond Hill, sources told 1010 WINS on Tuesday.
A complaint about numerous e-bikes parked outside the store led the FDNY and other agencies to the shocking discovery Monday night, according to sources.
Inspectors from the Department of Buildings found 14 bunk beds and 13 beds tightly packed on both floors, as well as plumbing work done without permits.
The DOB issued a vacate order because of unsafe conditions in the cellar, including overcrowding, as well as "numerous" fire hazards discovered by the FDNY, sources said.
NYC Emergency Management helped men in need of further assistance, with at least 40 of them transferred to a migrant shelter in the Bronx.
The store's owner, Ebou Sarr, who himself came to America from West Africa about 30 years ago, said he was trying to help the men get back on their feet—but he now faces potential fines from the city.
"That was the intention," he said. "I know we can do it, because we have numbers already, and everybody's going to pay. This is a country where everybody works. That's why they're all working. I'm proud of them."
People have been housed at the store since January, leading to numerous complaints from neighbors, according to sources.
The complaint that led to the discovery was made by a neighbor who gave her name as Ms. Brown. She said she was fed up with bikes parked outside, people smoking cigarettes, and noise day and night—but the final straw was when a structure was built in front of her bathroom window.
"I'm not going to be intimidated, and I'm not going to be manipulated," she said. "I talked to them on occasion, so we don't have to get here—where we are enemies on this block."
Brown said she was especially concerned about the number of e-bikes, given the many fires in the city caused by the lithium-ion batteries that power the bikes.
"All over the news you see that these e-bikes are exploding and they lighting up the whole block," she said.
Sarr said the men had been kicked out of shelters due to the city's 30-day stay limit implemented during the migrant crisis. He said he gave them work and a leg up—and that they didn't want to leave the makeshift safe haven.
"They don't want to go through that again," he said. "This morning most of them called me. They said what they've been through—they've never been through that. They've been through hell."
Mayor Eric Adams commented on the incident during his weekly press Q&A at City Hall on Tuesday, saying it was the result of both the migrant and housing crises. He said the city's 1% vacancy rate for rentals is "going to produce desperate situations."
"The reality is with 180,000 people entering this city also looking for housing—over 65,000 currently in our system—if we don't build more, we're going to be building more problems," Adams said, referring to the estimated number of migrants who've entered the city since 2022.
"When you have situations like what we're facing here, there are some who are going to attempt to exploit it, there are some who are going to attempt to do illegal housing," the mayor said.