Mayor Eric Adams is pursuing legal action to weaken a four-decade-old ruling that mandates New York City provide shelter to anyone who requests it, citing the influx of tens of thousands of migrants as a reason the city should no longer be required to comply with the court order.
The mayor’s office announced the news late Tuesday in a press release. The announcement comes roughly two weeks after he issued an executive order suspending certain shelter rules applying to families.
“Given that we’re unable to provide care for an unlimited number of people and are already overextended, it is in the best interest of everyone, including those seeking to come to the United States, to be upfront that New York City cannot single-handedly provide care to everyone crossing our border,” Adams said in a statement.
In a letter addressed to Judge Deborah Kaplan, the deputy chief administrative judge for New York City Courts, a member of the city’s Law Department requested “relief” and “modification” of the 1984 consent decree from the case Callahan v. Carey that established the so-called right-to-shelter law.
In one of the most significant changes, the Adams administration is proposing that the consent decree be rewritten to include a provision that allows the city to suspend right-to-shelter when the city “lacks the resources and capacity to establish and maintain sufficient shelter sites.”
As of this week, city officials said that over 70,000 migrants had arrived in the city over the last year. Around 44,000 are currently in the city’s care, according to estimates provided by the mayor’s office.
New York City is the only major city in the country to have right-to-shelter rules. They have been credited for limiting the spread of street homelessness in New York City.
Advocates and other lawmakers were quick to criticize the mayor’s actions.
The Legal Aid Society and Coalition for the Homeless, who have fought numerous efforts by mayors in the past to roll back the right-to-shelter, issued a joint statement Tuesday night.
“For more than 40 years, Callahan has served as a lifeline for countless New Yorkers seeking shelter and critical services,” they said. “New Yorkers do not want to see anyone, including asylum-seekers, relegated to the streets. We will vigorously oppose any motion from this Administration that seeks to undo these fundamental protections that have long defined our city.”
City Comptroller Brad Lander, a staunch critic of the mayor’s handling of the migrant crisis, said the mayor’s actions “undermines the foundation of the social safety net in this city.”
“Rather than seeking to circumvent the state constitutional requirement to provide safe and dignified shelter, the Mayor should have gone to court to clarify that it applies to all municipalities in New York State,” Lander added.
For months, the mayor has argued that the right-to-shelter needed to be reconsidered in the wake of the migrant crisis. The city is using 150 new shelter sites as well as emergency facilities, most of them hotels.
But following a botched plan to use school gyms and limited success in relocating migrants to suburban counties, Adams appears to be running out of ideas.
“Our city has done more to support asylum-seekers than any other city in the nation, but the unfortunate reality is that the city has extended itself further than its resources will allow,” he said.
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