NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) -- As part of a new initiative aimed at discouraging migrants from coming to New York, the city is planning to remove some asylum seekers from its shelter system after 60 days.
The administration also plans to distribute flyers at the US southern border, in a marketing push to remind migrants that New York City is an expensive city that cannot guarantee help for new arrivals. “Please consider another city as you make your decision about where to settle in the US,” the flyers read.
The city's shelter directive, announced Wednesday, applies to single adult people seeking asylum who are already in the city’s care. Mayor Eric Adams said the move is necessary to free up more space to accommodate migrant families with children. More than 90,000 people have come through New York City’s intake system since last spring, mainly from the southern border of the US, and 54,800 remain in the city’s care. That increase has more than doubled the population of the city’s shelter system, which includes other people experiencing homelessness, pushing it to a record 105,800 people.
“We stated several months ago that we’ve reached full capacity. We have no more room in this city,” Adams said on Wednesday. Roughly 2,800 migrants arrived in the city last week, according to officials. “We need help from the federal government.”
After 60 days, people removed from the shelter system will be asked to reapply if they are unable to find alternative housing.
In response to the crisis, the Adams administration has opened 188 emergency shelters in city-owned buildings, hotels and old jail facilities. It has also opened 13 humanitarian relief centers, which are the first destination for new arrivals. The administration estimates that the cost of feeding and housing migrants will exceed $4 billion by next year.
It has also unwound parts of its landmark right-to-shelter laws, which stem from a 1981 court decision and require the city to provide food, shelter and other basic necessities for unsheltered people within 24 hours. Adams has sought to roll back that mandate altogether, arguing that the law did not consider cases like the one the city is currently grappling with. The first hearing in that court battle also began Wednesday.
New York City is the only US city with a universal right-to-shelter, which has left its population of homeless people living on the street much smaller than other large cities. A point-in-time count from 2022 found that about 3,400 people are living in the street, according to city data.
Immigration and housing advocates took issue with the mayor’s Wednesday announcement and questioned its legality. It’s not clear exactly what will happen at the end of the 60-day limit, which could determine the new rule’s legality under the right-to-shelter decree, says Edward Josephson, the supervising attorney for the Legal Aid Society of NYC’s Civil Law Reform Unit.
“What they've been telling us is that at the end of the 60 days, people can come back to the arrival center and say, ‘I don't have a place to go, I need a new placement,’” said Josephson. “But what they're not saying is, are they guaranteed another placement? Or is the city kind of reserving its option to say, no, go sleep in the park?”
— With Sarah Holder
This story first appeared on Bloomberg.com.
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