The city is again expected to toughen its stance on migrants in the Big Apple’s overwhelmed shelter system by slapping a one-month limit on single migrants in homeless shelters, officials conceded Monday.
The 30-day limit had already been placed on single adult migrants in makeshift city shelters last September — but now the ban will extend to those in standard housing for the homeless run by the Department of Homeless Services.
“We anticipate that in the next several weeks we will be rolling out the timeline for the 30-day notices for adults in the DHS system,” New York City Department of Social Services Molly Wasow Park testified Monday, adding, “with the understanding that we will work with individuals who still need assistance at the end of 30 days.”
Park said the migrants affected by the policy were a small portion of the 33,000 asylum seekers in the homeless shelter system. The majority of migrants in DHS care are families, according to City Hall.
The DHS commissioner revealed the expansion of the program during a joint committee hearing on the cost of the asylum seeker crisis, which the mayor has said will cost the city more than $12 billion.
The Adams administration has started to limit the time asylum seekers can spend in city housing before having to reapply as part of their plan to free up space in the shelter system with thousands more arriving from the border each week.
Early figures appear to show the tactic is having its desired effect, with fewer than roughly 3,000 migrants being handed notices returning to the city’s shelters.
Those tallies were for the two-month cap, the prior time limit, with reapply rates for 30-day notices not available yet.
Park said the city has no plans currently to cap the number of days asylum seekers with kids can stay in DHS shelters. Their time is limited to 60 days in emergency housing centers.
The city is mandated to provide housing for anyone who wants it under a decades-old mandate.
The city is currently caring for more than 65,000 migrants.