Mayor Eric Adams is facing sharp criticism Thursday from fellow city pols and advocates after he signed on Wednesday night an executive order suspending parts of the city’s longstanding right-to-shelter law ahead of a new migrant surge following the expiration of federal Title 42.
The executive order — first reported by the news website Gothamist — suspends parts of the decades-old right to shelter law, which guarantees any person seeking shelter a placement in New York City’s system, that pertains to finding shelter for those seeking it within a given timeframe.
It bypasses the mandate that families have units with access to bathrooms and kitchens, clearing the way for the city to place families with children in congregate settings. Although Legal Aid Society attorney Josh Goldfein said it’s his understanding that’s not the city’s intention.
“They have said, though, that they do not anticipate, in the short term, placing families with children in congregate settings,” Goldfein told amNewYork Metro. “They’re still looking for space. So, depending on what they find, they didn’t want to be in a position where they said, ‘oh, we can’t because of this rule.’”
That lack of space, coupled with the expiration of Title 42 — a pandemic-era federal rule that restricted migration into the country — on Thursday, is why Adams passed the executive order, according to a statement from mayoral spokesperson Fabien Levy. The administration anticipates the rule’s expiration will lead the number of asylum seekers showing up in the city every day to potentially double.
It was also passed as a way to avoid placing migrants in gyms and similar facilities, like last weekend when the city housed migrants with families in a former NYPD training facility.
“In an effort to mitigate those risks and find room within our shelter system, the city has temporarily suspended the policy surrounding timing for placements in shelters,” Levy said. “This is not a decision taken lightly and we will make every effort to get asylum seekers into shelter as quickly as possible.”
‘Heading down a dangerous road’
The executive order took effect immediately and will last for five days. Adams passed it following months of publicly questioning whether the right-to-shelter law applies to the now over 61,000 migrants who’ve arrived here since April 2022 — 37,500 of whom are in city shelters and emergency housing.
Legal Aid, which first notified the press about Adams’ intention to sign the executive order, and the Coalition for the Homeless blasted the mayor’s executive order in a Wednesday night joint statement. They said Adams is “heading down a dangerous road” by suspending parts of the long standing precedent.
“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,” they said. “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.
“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,” they added.
The groups said they’re considering their options, including legal action. Goldfein noted that just because the administration has suspended parts of city law doesn’t mean it may not be in violation of state law.
Progressive City Council Member Shahana Hanif, who chairs the chamber’s Committee on Immigration, called the executive order “violence” in a Wednesday night tweet.
“This is violence,” she wrote. “The last time families were in congregate settings, there were cases of child sexual abuse. Right-to-shelter exists to protect families and ensure all New Yorkers have their rights respected in our shelter system. These rules cannot be ignored.”
The mayor’s action follows months of his demands for the federal government to provide significant financial support to the city for the influx and a broader immigration policy response falling on deaf ears.
Nearly a week ago, the city received just $30.5 million of a requested $350 million in reimbursements for asylum seeker costs it had applied for from the Federal Emergency Management Agency earlier this year.
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