October 3, 2023 Mayor’s Far-Reaching Request Would Mark a Profound Retreat on NYC’s Right to Shelter and Impact Thousands of Homeless New Yorkers (NEW YORK, NY) – The Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless issued the following joint statement in response to the Adams Administration’s revised application to gut Right to Shelter protections for both new arrivals and thousands of longer-term New Yorkers seeking or residing in shelter: “The City’s shameful revised application would go far beyond limiting its obligation to provide some form of emergency shelter to asylum seekers and other new arrivals. 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. 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. “This is the City’s most significant and damaging attempt to retreat on its legal and moral obligation to provide safe and decent shelter for people without homes since that right was established 42 years ago and, needless to say, street homelessness would balloon to a level unseen in our city since the Great Depression. “Throughout this legal back-and-forth, we have offered to work with the City in good faith to find ways to meet the current demand for shelter. Rather than continue that conversation or allow the goals of the recent grant of Temporary Protected Status and Governor Hochul’s plan of assisting thousands of new arrivals with work authorizations and finding employment throughout New York State to be realized, the Mayor is instead seeking to end the Right to Shelter as we know it. “If the Mayor, as well as Governor Hochul, were serious about bolstering shelter capacity to manage increased demand, City Hall would implement the policies that we have called for since last year instead of seeking to advance proposals that would inevitably bring incalculable suffering to those in need, and the Governor would show true leadership by implementing a comprehensive statewide decompression and resettlement plan and by overriding the bigoted executive orders in upstate counties aimed at precluding new arrivals.” Background: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. Legal Aid and the Coalition for the Homeless will hold a media availability via Zoom on the City’s application tomorrow, October 4, 2023, at 10:00 AM.
