August 16, 2023 (NEW YORK, NY) – The Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless issued the following joint statement in response to reporting on the State and City’s management of new arrivals to New York City: “At this consequential time, we need both the State and the City, along with assistance from the Biden Administration, to work together constructively and in good faith to identify and implement solutions that will both ensure the humane treatment of new arrivals to New York and the City’s compliance with all Right to Shelter-related court orders and local laws so that people are not denied shelter and relegated to the streets. We have identified numerous concrete steps both parties can take, starting right now, that would help address this urgent situation.” “We look forward to next week’s court conference to continue this conversation and to secure the resources the City needs and deserves to meet this moment.” Background:This past week, Legal Aid, the Coalition for the Homeless and more than 100 other organizations from around New York State representing advocates, services providers, and faith groups issued a letter to Governor Kathy Hochul urging her to develop a comprehensive statewide decompression and resettlement plan for the new arrivals and to immediately prioritize deploying state resources to ensure sufficient temporary housing capacity for new arrivals and other unhoused New Yorkers. Last month, Legal Aid and the Coalition for the Homeless also called on the City to advance a variety of reforms to increase shelter capacity. The next court conference in Callahan v. Carey is scheduled for Wednesday, August 23, 2023 at 2:15 PM before New York State Supreme Court Judge Erika Edwards. The courtroom is located at 60 Centre Street – Part 10, Room 412 in Manhattan. Legal Aid and others will hold a media availability for press outside the courthouse following the conference. Please RSVP with Redmond Haskins at rhaskins@legal-aid.org if you plan to attend.
