New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced that the City will be rolling out 60-day notices to find alternative forms of housing for asylum seekers who have been in city shelters for a significant amount of time. These new guidelines, first reported by Gothamist, come after Adams said that New York City’s system for those facing housing insecurity has reached “full capacity” and that “we have no more room in the city”.
The update to NYC’s shelter policy will apply to single adult migrants, not to children or families. Those impacted will receive a notice of 60 days in the upcoming weeks with extensive casework services to explore alternative forms of housing. If they are unable to find housing, migrants can reapply for a shelter bed at a shelter intake system. They could be reassigned a different shelter bed if there is one available. If not — Adams says that people in need will have to “wait”.
“They just have to wait. Wherever they can find a place to wait,” the Mayor said in a briefing.
The Mayor also asked for the Federal Government for help and to let asylum seekers work via work permits. “New York City is carrying a the weight of a national problem”, the Mayor said at a briefing about the asylum seeker crisis.
Asylum seekers have been arriving in high numbers to New York City’s shelter system for more than a year now. The City has received more than 90,000 immigrants since last spring.
In June, The New York Times reported that the total number of people staying in City shelters passed 100,000 for the first time. The number rose to 105,000 people in July, according to Deputy Mayor Anne Williams-Isom. Almost half of them are recently arrived asylum seekers.
The city government is currently running 188 shelters and humanitarian centers. Earlier this month, Documented reported that a group of asylum seekers were living in an unfinished building without working showers.
According to officials, the City has spent over $1 billion so far in services provided to migrants that have arrived in the city since last year.
