October 13, 2023 (NEW YORK, NY) – The Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless issued the following statement in response to reportingthat the Adams Administration will limit shelter stays for families with children to 60 days: “Forcing families with children who have endured unthinkable suffering traveling to New York – trauma the Mayor reportedly saw with his own eyes when he visited the Darién Gap last week – to be denied safe shelter after 60 days is bankrupt of any humanity and is a stain our city’s long-standing reputation as a welcoming home for all. “This plan will disrupt the lives of homeless students and create chaos for their schools, as parents are forced to choose between re-enrolling or spending the day traveling across the city to their current school. That’s a terrible outcome for both families and educators. In addition, the policy is in gross contradiction of statements made by this very Administration to ‘prioritize children with families’ as well as Governor Hochul’s comments to ensure the same. “Throughout this legal back-and-forth, we have offered to work with the State and City in good faith to find ways to bolster shelter capacity. Rather than continue that conversation or allow the goals of the recent grant of Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans and Governor Hochul’s plan of assisting thousands of new arrivals with work authorizations and finding employment and housing throughout New York State to be realized, the Mayor and Governor are instead seeking to end the Right to Shelter for single adults as we know it, and with this latest development from Mayor Adams, the Right to Shelter for families with children may be next. “Make no mistake: this proposal, like many before it, is designed to have a chilling effect. No New Yorker wants to see families with children huddled on the streets of our city, especially as winter approaches. We are assessing all of our options, including litigation, should the Adams Administration move forward with this callous and inhumane plan.” Background Just this past week, religious leaders, organized labor, and advocates launched a new coalition to defend the Right to Shelter in New York. Members of the newly-formed New York Shelter for All in Need Equally Coalition — or NY SANE Coalition — came together at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church to discuss humane and sustainable solutions to meet this moment, pledged to sign a potential amicus brief in the ongoing lawsuit over the Right to Shelter, and signed letters to Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul urging them to not undermine the City’s long-standing Right to Shelter for all homeless individuals and families. In September, 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. In July, Legal Aid and the Coalition for the Homeless also called on the City to advance a variety of reforms to increase shelter capacity.
