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In a letter sent to City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams Thursday, the NY SANE Coalition—which represents 65 community and legal services organizations—pressed her and fellow lawmakers to pass bill Intro. 210, which would prohibit the city from putting time limits on homeless shelter stays.
Adi Talwar
The line in front of St. Brigid’s in the East Village, where migrants can reapply for shelter or tickets out of the city, on the morning of May 22, 2024.Dozens of labor, legal services and community-based organizations are calling for passage of a bill that would prohibit the city from issuing time limits to people in homeless shelters—essentially halting Mayor Eric Adams’ controversial 30- and 60- day deadlines for migrants in the system.
More than 60 members of the NY SANE Coalition sent a letter Thursday to City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams urging her and fellow councilmembers to pass Intro. 210, which would ban the Department of Social Services “or any other city agency from imposing length of shelter stay restrictions in a shelter of any type.”
The Coalition—formed last year to defend New York right to shelter protections, which has for decades required the city to offer a shelter bed, at least temporarily, to anyone who needs it—called the 30- and 60-day limits “senseless” and “arbitrary.”
Groups formally endorsing the bill, sponsored by Brooklyn Councilmember Shahana Hanif, include the Legal Aid Society, Coalition for the Homeless, Win, Episcopal Diocese of New York, the Retail, Wholesale, Department Store Union (RWDSU) and dozens more.
“In the heart of one of the world’s wealthiest cities, approximately 148,000 individuals, including families with children, rely on shelters for a place to sleep each night,” the Coalition’s letter to the speaker reads. “Despite this profound need, New York City’s current shelter policies risk thrusting thousands of recently arrived migrants directly into the harsh realities of street homelessness.”
Families with children are currently subject to 60-day stays, after which they can reapply for another placement. As part of a legal settlement struck this spring between homeless advocates and City Hall, adults without minor children who arrived in the city from another country after March 15, 2022, can only earn more time in shelter after initial 30- or 60-stints if they meet certain requirements.
The Adams administration first began issuing time limits last summer to newly arrived immigrants in homeless shelters, more than 200,000 of whom have come to New York City over the last two years. City Hall says it has opened more than 200 emergency shelters to respond to the need, but lacks the space and resources to keep up without deadlines in place.
“With more than 64,900 migrants currently in our care, and over 900 more continuing to arrive every week, we have used every possible corner of New York City to shelter asylum seekers in a compassionate and equitable way,” a City Hall spokesperson told City Limits in a statement.
“It is clear that our efforts are working, as we have already helped more than 68 percent of asylum seekers who have come into our care take the next steps in their journeys and move out of our shelter system as they seek to be self sufficient,” the spokesperson added, pointing to free legal aid provided by the city’s Asylum Application Help Center, which has filed more than 58,000 applications for asylum, work authorization and Temporary Protected Status on behalf of new arrivals.
But homeless advocates say the shelter deadlines only make it harder for people to establish that independence.
“Those that are staying longer than 30 and 60 days are there because they need some help in getting stable,” said Dave Giffen, executive director at Coalition for the Homeless. “This whole notion that that’s an adequate amount of time for somebody who’s been through what most of these families and individuals have been through to stabilize and recover…is insanity.”
“Individuals in need of shelter don’t just disappear. If they’re denied shelter, they go somewhere. And do we want people living on the streets and in the transit system? Do we want people just disappearing into illegal housing or living in some safe and unstable situation?” he added. “Or do we want to help provide them with some pathway to stability? That’s the question.”
At the time of publication, 19 of the city’s 51 councilmembers had signed on as sponsors to Intro. 210. A spokesperson for Council Speaker Adams said the bill is “is going through the legislative process.”
“The Council appreciates the coalition’s advocacy for people seeking shelter and stability in our city, and we share its concerns about the safety and well-being of individuals and families,” the spokesperson said.
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