Shelters are overloaded. Will a new agreement help?
Good morning. It’s Monday. Today we’re getting details on how the city’s so-called “right to shelter” requirement is being rolled back amid the ongoing struggle to house thousands of migrants.
Most adult migrants without children will now have to leave their shelters in New York City after 30 days unless they meet certain criteria to extend their stay.
That was the most significant change in a legal agreement that changes a long-standing requirement that the city provide shelter to anyone who requests it. Migrant families with children will not be affected.
The settlement ended months of legal wrangling that began in May, when Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, sought permission to amend the 42-year-old consent decree establishing New York’s right to shelter, which is unique among cities in the United States. States. US
I asked Luis Ferré-Sadurní, who reports on immigration and the migrant crisis in New York, to explain the changes.
The shelters are overloaded. How will this scheme make a difference?
Officials say this settlement will give the city more flexibility to move migrant adults out of the shelter system. Currently, migrant adults without children make up about 22 percent of the 65,000 migrants in shelters.
It is important to note that the underlying requirement for the right to shelter, which was established more than forty years ago, is still intact. This settlement does not change the fact that New York is the only city in the US that is required to provide a bed to everyone who needs one.
The new rules in the scheme are intended to apply very strictly to the migrant crisis. These rules do not apply to homeless people who are not recent migrants. The new rules are important to city officials who do not want the migrants in their care to remain in the shelter system indefinitely.
So the changes in the settlement are mainly aimed at that 22 percent – roughly 14,000 adult migrants. Will the number of homeless people on the streets increase?
Not necessary. First, the settlement allows adult migrants to reapply for a bed in the system if they meet certain requirements. If they can show that they are making significant efforts to get out of the system, but still have not found a home, the city is obliged to give them a bed again.
That said, it remains to be seen how the city will accomplish this and meet legal requirements. The city must consider expansions on a case-by-case basis. City officials have not said how they will handle all the requests they will receive from migrants who say they need to stay longer than 30 days.
What the city does is closely monitored. The city will prepare weekly reports showing how many extensions have been granted and how many have been denied. Legal Aid Society attorneys, who represent the plaintiffs in the case, have said very clearly that they will be monitoring the city’s actions and that they are prepared to go back to court if they believe the city for example, denies providing shelter to people who actually qualify for the settlement.
What happens to migrants who reach the 30-day limit and have no exception?
We’ll see about that later.
If the city denies their request to stay longer than 30 days, they may not have access to a bed in the shelter system and may have to find another way to live. That could mean that some actually become homeless. But legal aid lawyers note that there is nothing in the agreement to prevent a migrant from reapplying for a bed even after his or her renewal request has been denied.
The 30-day rule is not new. Isn’t the difference that the city can now say no to migrants who want to stay longer?
Right. Under previous rules, adult migrants without children could stay in city shelters for 30 days and then reapply for another bed, no questions asked.
Backlogs have arisen. In recent months, we have seen adult migrants who reapply for a bed after 30 days sometimes have to wait more than a week before the city arranges a new bed for them. Many of them were effectively homeless while they waited. Some had to wait in the cold outside the East Village processing center, where they had to reapply. Often, they had to sleep on the floor of what the city calls “waiting rooms,” which are essentially the lobbies of shelter buildings where they try to get assigned another bed.
The agreement states that exceptions will only be made under “extenuating circumstances.” What are they?
Adult migrants could stay longer than 30 days if they can prove to the city that they are making “significant efforts” to get out of the shelter system and find housing but have not yet done so. They can show that they have applied for a job or vocational training or that they are looking for an apartment.
They can also stay longer than 30 days if they show they have plans to leave New York City soon but need a few more days at the shelter. Likewise, they can stay longer if they have an immigration hearing in the next 30 days or have a lease on an apartment that starts in the next few weeks but need a place to stay in between.
All this is at the discretion of the city.
Does the city have the staff to process exception requests?
The city already has a heavily staffed infrastructure to handle the migrant reception system, consisting of shelters, hotels and dormitories. It remains to be seen whether officials will have to redirect some of these resources or hire more people to ensure they can process it all in a timely manner.
There are a lot of open questions here. The coming weeks will be very important to see how this plays out, to see how many people are denied shelter and what happens to adult migrants who can no longer access the shelter system. Do they end up on the street? Are they leaving New York City? Those are things advocates for immigrants and the homeless will pay attention to.
Weather
Expect a mostly sunny day in the low 50s. The evening will be mostly cloudy, with temperatures dropping into the mid 30s.
ALTERNATE PARKING
In effect until Sunday (Purim).
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Gun Hill Rd
Dear Diary:
My flight from Milan arrived at Kennedy Airport amid heavy rain. I struggled into the mass of dripping humanity outside the arrivals hall.
“I’m here,” said the text message from my daughter Karin. “You will find me.”
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It was ten o’clock on a Sunday evening and the consensus was that we were doomed.
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The food was great and the new band was reasonably priced. Having once lived nearby on Decatur Avenue, I felt like I had come home again.
— Stu Reininger