By Anna Di Iorio-Reyes
In response to the recent influx of migrant arrivals from Central and South America over the past year, New York City filed a legal challenge to its bedrock right to shelter mandate on October 3.
Since the spring of 2022, more than 150,100 migrants have flooded NYC’s housing systems expecting promised housing, putting the city’s systems and resources under stress. In June, the average number of daily individuals in shelters reached 60,000, according to data by the Department of Homeless Services. If the federal government refuses to provide additional aid to the city, the crisis is projected to cost $12 billion in the next three years. So far, the city has spent $2.1 billion on combating the migrant crisis.
“This issue will destroy New York City,” Adams said at a Town Hall meeting on September 6, adding to his recent slew of despondent remarks about the crisis. “I don’t see an ending to this.”
Even the 210 emergency shelters taking form in hotels, former jails, cruise ships, public parks, vacant office buildings, and school gymnasiums, are not enough for the city to accommodate the 10,000 more migrants arriving each month. Lines of hundreds of migrants waiting for shelter wrap around sidewalks. Some have slept outside for days.
Established in 1981, New York City’s right to shelter mandate states that the city cannot legally turn down any request for shelter. Families with children must be given beds the same night of their request if they arrive before 10pm, and single adults must be provided for within a day, according to Bloomberg.
After the city filed the legal challenge to the mandate, the Adams administration argued that the right to shelter decree “was never intended to apply to the extraordinary circumstances our city faces today.”
Many migrants, already familiarized with the glorified image of New York City, arrive seeking refuge from economic disasters and wars. Others are being used as bullets in the U.S.’s bipartisan warfare. In 2022, Republican governors in Florida and Texas emptied their hands of tens of thousands of migrants by shipping them towards blue states.
To accommodate the demands for shelter, the Adams administration placed new limits on shelter stays. The city’s statements on September 22 and October 16 require migrant families with children to reapply for housing every 60 days, while single adult migrants will have to reapply every 30 days. However, adding to the paradox of this crisis, undocumented immigrants can not get their work permit until 2-7 months after they’ve submitted their applications, meaning many will have to apply for shelter several times before they can generate enough income to secure their own housing.
“What’s the alternative?” challenged Josh Goldfien, referring to if the city were to withdraw the mandate. “If we do not have a right to shelter, if we are turning people away from the shelter system, if people are now living in the streets, in the subways, in the parks, is that the outcome that they want? I don’t think any New Yorker wants to see that.”
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