NYC seeks to suspend right to shelter

New York City Mayor Eric Adams is looking to temporarily suspend a longstanding emergency housing obligation to provide shelter to anyone who asks for it due to increased shelter demand from migrants, a move that is opposed by local human rights groups.

On Tuesday, Adams asked a judge to allow the city to temporarily put aside its legal obligation to provide shelter to single adults, arguing in court that the city should be able to temporarily lift the mandate during an emergency.

He cited the city's full shelter capacity and an influx of asylum seekers in search of free housing and job opportunities.

"With more than 122,700 asylum seekers having come through our intake system since the spring of 2022 and projected costs of over $12 billion for three years, it is abundantly clear that the status quo cannot continue," Adams said in a statement. "New York City cannot continue to do this alone."

The 1981 consent decree has been in effect for four decades, granting individuals the right to shelter upon request. No other major US city enforces such a requirement. Adams has also asked for the law to be suspended when either the governor or mayor declares a state of emergency for similar reasons.

The Legal Aid Society, responsible for the lawsuit that led to the right to shelter, and the Coalition for the Homeless issued a joint statement opposing the city's proposed change. They argued that the change would significantly weaken protections for both newly arrived individuals and long-term New Yorkers experiencing homelessness.

"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," the Legal Aid Society said. "Street homelessness would balloon to a level unseen in our city since the Great Depression."

Josh Goldfein, a staff attorney at The Legal Aid Society, said the city's request, if successful, would be disastrous for the city, The New York Times reported.

"What is the alternative? If we do not have a right to shelter, if we are turning people away from the shelter system, if people are now living in the streets, in the subways, in the parks, is that the outcome that they want?" he said. "That is something we have not seen in decades. I don't think any New Yorker wants to see that. I don't think city officials want to see that, but that will be the result if they were to prevail here."

Adams tried to clarify that the intention behind the move wasn't to terminate the law but to seek assistance at the state and federal levels, distancing himself from the statement that Ingrid Lewis-Martin, his chief adviser, made asking to "close the border".

"We are simply asking for the city's obligations to be aligned with those of the rest of the state during states of emergency. For more than a year now, New York City has shouldered the burden of this national crisis largely alone," he said.

He added that the city has established more than 210 emergency sites, allocated more than $2 billion thus far, and anticipates expenditures of up to $5 billion by the end of the current fiscal year.

"We believe the borders should remain open," the mayor said at a news conference. "That's the official position of this city, but we have made it clear there should be a decompression strategy so that we could properly deal with the volume that's coming into our city."

Adams was scheduled to visit Mexico, Ecuador and Colombia on Wednesday to discourage people from seeking asylum in the city.

"We want to give an honest assessment of what we are experiencing here in this city. We are at capacity," he told The Associated Press. "We're going to tell them that coming to New York doesn't mean you're going to stay in a five-star hotel. It doesn't mean that the mere fact that you come here, you automatically are going to be allowed to work."

Agencies contributed to this story.