NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) — Mayor Eric Adams proposed the suspension of New York City's Right to Shelter law, which guarantees shelter to anyone who seeks it, on Tuesday as the city continues to grapple with an influx of migrants.
Ahead of the mayor's visit to Latin America, city attorneys filed a revised application in court to seek relief from the Callahan decree which was put into effect nearly 40 years ago.
“With more than 122,700 asylum seekers having come through our intake system since the spring of 2022, and projected costs of over $12 billion for three years, it is abundantly clear that the status quo cannot continue,” Adams said.
This filing represents a new phase in the ongoing legal conflict, resulting from negotiations with the state and the Legal Aid Society, and it has the potential to extend for several more months.
“The City’s shameful revised application would go far beyond limiting its obligation to provide some form of emergency shelter to asylum seekers and other new arrivals,” the Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless said in a statement sent out Tuesday night.
The city asked for the temporary suspension of the mandate to provide shelter. It also wants to be exempt from offering shelter to single adults when the governor has “declared a state of emergency” and when “the daily number of single adults seeking shelter is at least 50% greater than the daily number of single adults seeking shelter before the declared state of emergency.”
Entered in 1981, the decree is an agreement that states homeless people in New York City have a right to shelter. Over time, this agreement expanded to include women and families too.
The new legal proposal seeks to impact all homeless single adults, not just newly arrived migrants, pending a judge's approval.
“If successful, the City would have the ability to declare an emergency, and effectively end the Right to Shelter for thousands of New Yorkers – including working poor individuals who rely on the shelter system and, alarmingly, individuals who rely on disability benefits,” the Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless statement read.
The city has opened more than 210 emergency sites, and has spent more than $2 billion in the past year.
More than 10,000 asylum seekers continue to arrive each month.