NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Mayor Eric Adams issued an executive order suspending parts of New York City’s decades-old Right to Shelter law on Wednesday.
A 1979 Legal Aid Society lawsuit enshrined the Right to Shelter, which mandates the city provide a bed to anyone who needs one in a timely manner.
Adams justified the suspension of homeless New Yorkers rights by claiming migrants arriving in the city have put too much strain on the shelter system.
"New York City has cared for more than 61,000 migrants over the last year — sheltering, feeding, and caring for them almost entirely on our own,” said a spokesperson for the mayor. “In recent days, we've seen upwards of 500 people arrive each day, and we expect those numbers to grow significantly as Title 42 lifts tomorrow.”
Executive Order 402 suspends the provision of the law that requires the city provide a bed in a set timeframe.
This is a provision that Adams likely already violated in September, when about 60 men were forced to sleep on floors and benches at an intake center in Manhattan instead of being redirected to shelter beds.
Adams started floating the idea of rolling back the Right to Shelter soon after this incident.
The order also removes the mandate that requires the city to provide families with units that have access to a bathroom, refrigerator and kitchen.
The order will remain in place for five days unless Adams decides to renew it.
The Legal Aid Society is responsible for the lawsuit that enshrined the Right to Shelter, and Coalition for the Homeless was tasked with overseeing compliance with the law. The two groups issued a joint statement on Wednesday denouncing Adams’ executive order.
“For decades, Right to Shelter laws have protected people from immeasurable harm, including long-term New Yorkers and new arrivals to our city,” said the groups. “Executive Order 402 could force families with children to languish at the City’s intake facility for extended periods of time, potentially days on end, prolonging suffering that no human being should experience.”
“This order could potentially lead to the City regularly placing homeless families with children in congregate settings, a dangerous and widely condemned practice of the distant past,” the statement continued. “We recognize the efforts from City staff to avoid putting people in harm’s way, but we’ve learned through experience that congregate shelters put families and children at risk of communicable diseases and sexual assault, and they adversely impact mental health.”
The Legal Aid Society said it is considering taking legal action against the mayor to block the order.
The two groups recommended that in place of suspending the rights of homeless people, the city should free up shelter space by moving residents to permanent housing.
The city said more than 59,400 asylum seekers arrived in New York City over the last year.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and other red-state governors have been bussing the refugees from the southern border to New York as part of a political spat with Adams and other “sanctuary city” mayors.
FEMA recently approved more than $30 million in funds to address the arrival of migrants in New York City. The city had applied for more than $350 million.
New York City has been housing single men who arrived seeking asylum in large refugee camps. It has thus-far relied on existing shelter infrastructure and hotels for women, children and families. With the suspension of the mandate keeping families out of congregate settings, that could now change.
“No asylum seeking-family that has sought shelter from us over the last year has slept on the street thanks to our colossal efforts, but without more support from our federal and state partners, we are concerned the worst may be yet to come,” said a spokesperson for the mayor. “With over 130 emergency sites and eight humanitarian relief centers already opened, we have reached our limit, and we have no other option but to temporarily house recent arrivals in gyms.”
Related
Related
Related
