DEAL ON ‘RIGHT TO SHELTER’
Limits migrant stays
New York City will be allowed to continue limiting shelter stays under a settlement struck Friday in the legal fight over the “right to shelter” mandate — but will still be on the hook to house the thousands of migrants pouring into the Big Apple each week.
Under the deal reached by the Adams administration and the Legal Aid Society, the city will essentially be allowed to limit whether a single adult migrant can reapply for shelter after the 30-day stay expires.
Once 30 days have passed, anyone can reapply but only those who meet a “non-exhaustive” list of “extenuating circumstances” — such as having a medical condition or disability — will be approved on a case-by-case basis, according to the terms of the settlement.
Younger adult migrants between 18 and 23 years old will now have up to 60 days in the shelter system before they are booted, per the deal. Migrant families with kids, however, won’t be affected and can reapply — as they currently can — for shelter after getting their 60day eviction notice without having to meet required circumstances.
The settlement, signed by Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Gerald Lebovits, marks the end of a drawn-out legal fight over the decades-old mandate that requires the city to provide a bed for anyone who requests one.
Mayor Adams had sought to have the so-called “right to shelter” requirement nixed in regard to asylum seekers because, he argued, the Big Apple can’t cope with the nearly 183,000 migrants that have poured in since spring 2022.
Hizzoner had repeatedly stressed the city needed to be able to turn some people away because resources have buckled under the weight of a migrant crisis that he forecasts will set taxpayers back $10 billion over the next few years.
Political divide
Despite still having to provide a bed for all new asylum-seeking arrivals pouring into Gotham, Adams hailed the settlement as a win for his administration.
“‘Right to shelter’ was never intended to apply to a population larger than most US cities descending on the five boroughs in less than two years,” he said in a statement after the deal was announced. Big Apple pols, however, were quick to rip the deal.
“Today’s settlement on the right to shelter is a slap in the face to all New Yorkers,” Council member Bob Holden (D-Queens) told The Post. “This move will deepen the migrant crisis, overburden hardworking taxpayers, and only hasten the exodus of the middle class from NYC.”
The city is sheltering 64,600 asylum seekers throughout the five boroughs, according to City Hall’s latest data.