City officials on Wednesday responded to a complaint regarding a vacant storefront at 305 East Kingsbridge Road in the Bronx’s Fordham neighborhood, where they found dozens of Senegalese migrants sheltering in cramped conditions.
City leaders said that Ebou Sarr — the same person who on Tuesday was found to be sheltering migrants in the basement of a Queens furniture store — was also responsible for this Bronx site, in addition to another discovered back in January at the abandoned Old Fordham Library. While staying at the Fordham store, the migrants reportedly paid Sarr a deposit, plus $300 a month in exchange for a bed and three meals a day.
Sarr, also the owner of Caribbean Furniture on East Kingsbridge Road, did not provide a comment to the Bronx Times when contacted in person at the store, but said that local news outlets have been showing up at both the Bronx and Queens locations over the past two days.
He concurred that “it is against the law for migrants to live in either locations.”
Amid the city’s struggle to keep up with the needs of newly-arrived migrants, Sarr has suggested that he only stepped up to help because the city did not.
He said in a TV news interview that he took matters into his own hands because he saw many migrants — several of which are Senegalese like him — on the streets with nowhere to go.
“When they started coming to me [and] telling me their stories, I started helping them,” Sarr said.
Meanwhile, Mayor Eric Adams said in a news interview Wednesday that “people exploit those who are in need” — while insisting that the system for handling migrants is working as is.
“We have no child or family sleeping on the streets of the City of New York because of the humane process that we have put in place,” he said.
The NYPD on Thursday said that no criminal charges have been filed against Sarr.
According to the Department of Buildings (DOB), the agency discovered on Wednesday that the two-story commercial building had 34 tightly-packed beds on the first floor and 11 more in the cellar. Inspectors found several potential safety hazards, including extension cords, hotplates, e-bikes and space heaters.
DOB issued a Vacate Order “due to the hazardous life-threatening conditions, lack of natural light and ventilation, and severe overcrowding.”
Additionally, the agency cited the corporate landlord for failing to maintain the building and unlawful occupancy. A hearing will be scheduled during which the landlord may dispute the violations, DOB said. The maximum penalty for each of the two violations is $25,000.
The FDNY said in a statement to the Bronx Times that it issued seven different violations to the landlord, including failure to maintain electrical equipment and allowing electrical hazards in the building, failure to provide fire extinguishers and failure to maintain a fire alarm system.
As for the migrants forced to leave their makeshift shelter, the city’s Office of Emergency Management came to the scene and assessed their immediate needs and safety, a spokesperson said Thursday. Some migrants were transported to an overflow site, and some made other arrangements on their own.
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