New York City is asking for an exemption from its Right-to-Shelter mandate
Mayor Eric Adams asked a judge on Tuesday for permission to release New York City from its unique and long-standing obligation to provide shelter to anyone who requests it, claiming that the overwhelming influx of asylum seekers has overwhelmed its ability to accommodate all those in need.
“Since we are unable to provide care to an unlimited number of people and we are already overburdened, it is in everyone’s best interest, including those who want to come to the United States, to be outspoken that New York City is not alone can handily provide care to anyone crossing our border,” said Mr. Adams in a statement. “If we are dishonest about this, our system will only collapse, and we need our government partners to know the truth and do their part.”
In a letter to Deborah Kaplan, deputy administrative judge of the New York State Courts, the city’s lawyers asked for amendments to the 1981 consent decree that established New York’s requirement to provide shelter to anyone who requests it.
The city asked for the wording to be changed so that homeless adults and adult families could be denied shelter if it “does not have the resources and capacity to create and maintain adequate shelters, staffing, and security to provide safe and appropriate shelter.”
The town would still be home to families with children.
Mr Adams said he was not looking for a permanent end to the right to shelter. But he said the 1981 consent decree issued in the Callahan v. Carey case could not have foreseen “a massive influx of individuals entering our system — more than doubling our count in just over a year.”
The letter to Judge Kaplan underlined that theme, saying the “unprecedented demands on the city’s shelter resources present the city’s defendant with challenges never contemplated, foreseen or even remotely imagined.”
City officials say more than 70,000 migrants have arrived since spring and more than 40,000 are in the city’s care. There are more than 81,000 people in the city’s main reception system.
This is the second time that the Adams administration has asked for an exemption from the right to shelter. Earlier this month, the mayor issued an executive order that suspended rules requiring families to be placed in private rooms with bathrooms and kitchens, not in groups, and set a nighttime deadline for newly arrived families to be placed in shelters.
Legal Aid and the Coalition for the Homeless issued a joint statement strongly opposing the city’s move. “For over 40 years, Callahan has served as a lifeline for countless New Yorkers seeking shelter and critical services,” the groups said.
“The government’s request to suspend the long-established constitutional right protecting our customers from the elements is not who we are as a city,” the statement continued. “New Yorkers don’t want anyone, including asylum seekers, to be thrown out on the street. We will vigorously oppose any motion by this government that seeks to overturn this fundamental protection that has defined our city for so long.”