Compromise on NYC’s Right to Shelter Roll Back Amid Migrant Crisis Reaches Settlement
A controversial effort by the Adams’ administration to roll back New York City’s longstanding right to shelter with the intention scaling back the city’s obligation to provide shelter to the volume of migrant’s that have flooded the city over the last few years has finally reached certain compromise between the city and Legal Aid. According to a statement by Mayor Adams, the city has “been clear, from day one, that the ‘Right to Shelter’ was never intended to apply to a population larger than most U.S. cities descending on the five boroughs in less than two years.” The temporary settlement terms take effect immediately and only apply to adults, not families with children, will limit the city’s responsibility to provide shelter of adult migrants to 30 days, but allow reapplication to extend shelter if extenuating circumstances are demonstrated. Migrants under the age of 23 will receive 60 days of shelter and adults with disabilities can receive shelter longer than 30 or 60 days. The city’s requirement to “provide a bed to anyone who wants one,” dates back to 1976 follow a “ruling in Callahan v. Carey,” however, according to an article posted by State Court Report, the language within the legislation leaves the door open for competing interpretations and without clear judicial guidance, “the fate of the right to shelter, as well as the city’s swelling homeless populations, hang in the balance.”