Mayor Eric Adams has announced a significant policy shift surrounding the placement of migrant families in New York City’s shelters. As per the new ruling, these families will be obliged to leave the shelter after a stay of 60 days and must reapply for a place.
This rule, marking a notable effort by the administration to limit the resources tied up in sheltering the city’s migrant population, currently numbers upwards of 64,000 units. The city has been clear that it is hoping for more rapid assistance from local and federal partners. Until that happens, those families requesting asylum and residing in shelters will be given a notice period of 60 days to secure other living arrangements. A comprehensive case management service will provide additional assistance to these families as they explore other available options and plan the next chapter in their journey.
Reports indicate that the new regulation will take effect in the next week. Notification will be dispersed incrementally, prioritizing families who have been in the shelter system the longest. While the city has welcomed over 126,000 migrants since the previous spring, it’s assessed that over 64,000 currently make use of the local shelter system.
Concern surges over the adverse impact of this new 60-day rule, as it is expected the move is set to destabilize potentially thousands of homeless migrant children currently attending city schools. With a likely scenario of relocation to another shelter, these children might face many new challenges, not least of which being a commute to school from an unfamiliar location.
As it grapples to meet escalating requirements, the city has circumvented numerous guidelines and laws that steer the management of the homeless shelter populace and the standards meant to be maintained. This includes ensuring families have access to private bathrooms and stoves, clean linens, and adequately arranged beds within collective housing settings.
Simultaneously, the city is preparing to inaugurate a new shelter site at Floyd Bennett Field in the coming weeks. The facility, designed to accommodate approximately 500 asylum-seeking families, will offer semi-communal living with provisions for privacy through lockable dividers.
Organizations such as The Legal Aid Society and The Coalition for the Homeless have openly criticized this policy pivoting, anticipating broad adverse effects, including the potential disruption of education for migrant children. Additional worries include access to medical care and other crucial services.
The city continues to wade in uncharted waters as it redefines boundaries of such policies even as concerns of potential lawsuits loom. Advocates argue that housing families in the proposed open cubicles at Floyd Bennett Field poses not only legal but also ethical questions given the vulnerable nature of the population in question.
Indeed, this is not the first time Mayor Adams’s administration has curtailed the period migrant families can stay at city shelters. A recent measure compelled central migrant adults to vacate the shelter system after a 30-day period. Upon departure, these individuals are redirected to the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan, a resource center for migrants requiring city services. The process to reapply for shelter housing can be protracted and complex, creating further distress for these individuals who are already grappling with acclimatizing to a new country.
