As New York City Mayor Eric Adams leaves for a tour of Central America aimed at dissuading migration, the city has also asked the New York Supreme Court for relief from the city’s obligation to provide shelter.
Currently, a 1981 consent decree establishes the “right to shelter” in New York, which has spurred an influx of migrants over the past year. In the city’s filing to the state court Tuesday, officials note that more than 122,700 migrants have come to New York City since April 1, 2022.
Of those migrants, around 50,600 have come in since May 21. In that same period, New York City has established 61 new migrant holding sites, with $1.1 billion in new expenditures, officials wrote.
New York City has therefore asked state Supreme CourtJustice Erika Edwards to insert a new provision in the 1981 consent decree, relieving the city of its obligation to provide shelter to those who need it if a state of emergency has been declared by New York’s governor or by the city’s mayor. Similar requests were made in May and July.
The right to shelter would also be suspended if, in a period of at least two weeks immediately preceding or during a state of emergency “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,” officials wrote.
The latter figure would be taken from the average of adults coming in during the preceding two-year period, and would exclude data from times where a state of emergency regarding housing was in effect.
“New York City has done more than any other city in the last 18 months to meet this national humanitarian crisis. The judgment’s onerous terms are demonstrably ill-suited to present circumstances and restrain the City at a time when flexibility to deal with the emergency is paramount,” officials wrote.
Mr. Adams also weighed in.
“For more than a year now, New York City has shouldered the burden of this national crisis largely alone. … throughout this crisis, not a single family with children has been forced to sleep on the streets. But as we have said repeatedly, with upwards of 10,000 asylum seekers continuing to arrive every month, New York City cannot continue to do this alone,” Mr. Adams said in a statement Tuesday.
Some have criticized the move and are worried about the implications for the homeless, as a blanket pause in offering shelter would impact them as well as migrants.
“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,” said the Coalition for the Homeless nonprofit in a joint statement with the Legal Aid Society, a social justice law firm. “This abhorrent and unnecessary maneuver is a betrayal of the City’s commitment towards ensuring that no one is relegated to living – or dying – on the streets of our city.”
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.