By: Jared Evan

A plan to open a hipster hotel in Brooklyn was put on ice as the city has turned the property into a shelter for refugees from Central and South America.

It doesn’t appear the planned hipster haven ever opened, and the building — on the border of Bed-Stuyvesant and Bushwick — is now serving as a shelter for migrants, run by the Neighborhood Association for Inter-Cultural Affairs under a $7,659,662 contract.

A 25-year-old man from Venezuela, who was walking outside the building Sunday, said to The New York Post that his brother has been staying at the shelter after arriving in the US from Venezuela five months ago.

“We really want help to find work,” the man, who gave his name as Jesus, said.

According to The New York Post, more than 60,000 migrants have arrived in the Big Apple since spring 2022, with more than 37,000 housed in city-run or city-funded shelters and facilities, according to city officials. So far, the city has opened 122 emergency shelters and eight large humanitarian relief centers to handle the influx, with the plan to send new migrants to Rockland and Orange counties because the Big Apple is running out of space.

The planned Artel 535 hotel has a website but it’s email address is no longer operable and no one answered the listed phone number.

The website shows photos of the rooms with colorful modern paintings adorning the walls

.“Our team will strive to exceed your expectations in a gracious and professional manner,” the home page states. “Walking distance to NYC subway system. The hotel is located near major NYC’s attractions. The Barclays Center Brooklyn, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Bridge Park/DUMBO Terminal and South Street Seaport. Chelsea Piers and Central Park Zoo are a short train ride away.”

One neighbor told The New York Post that Artel 535 never opened or operated as a hotel — and all of a sudden it became a shelter.

“It never did [open]. It shut down during COVID,” the woman, who requested anonymity, said to The New York Post on Sunday.

One local activist, Jacky Wong, a managing director with the Greater Chinatown Civic Coalition, said residents — many first and second generation immigrants — don’t have a problem with having a shelter nearby to aid the migrant families.

“Our problem is with the city putting homeless shelters for single men in the neighborhood. We want the city to treat us fairly,” Wong said.

Meanwhile, millions of poor and retired Americans have seen their food assistance programs cut by $90-$200. The cuts will impact more than 30 million people who are enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, in those states, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Among the states where recipients are facing cuts are California and Texas, which have the greatest number of people on SNAP, at 5.1 million and 3.6 million, respectively.

With Title 42 ending, America is looking to be invaded by millions of migrants, flooding over the border, and with “sanctuary cities” unable to keep up with the masses looking for shelter and jobs; the migration situation is dire in America. Poor Americans are taking notice to  how the government is leaving them behind in favor of accommodation for migrants, who are not even American citizens.

At local meetings in communities across NYC, citizens are speaking out about the SNAP benefit cuts, the retired and the working poor are starting to feel disenfranchised.