New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced a decree on Friday enacting stricter regulations on migrants seeking shelter as the Big Apple’s immigration crisis continues to spiral out of control.
Adams said that the city came to an agreement with the Legal Aid Society to roll back the amount of time adult migrants can stay in the shelter system to approximately one month, a departure from what was previously allowed under the 1981 right-to-shelter law. New York City has been forced to make budget cuts to spend billions in taxpayer funds to deal with the crisis.
“Over the last two years, our city has been managing an ongoing national humanitarian crisis, providing shelter and care to approximately 183,000 new arrivals — a number larger than the population of most US cities,” Adams said in a statement on Friday. “Today, the City of New York came to an agreement with The Legal Aid Society which gives us additional flexibility under the 1981 consent decree known as ‘Callahan’ that addresses the ‘Right to Shelter.’”
Over the last two years, our city has been managing an ongoing national humanitarian crisis, providing shelter and care to approximately 183,000 new arrivals — a number larger than the population of most US cities.
Today, the City of New York came to an agreement with The Legal… pic.twitter.com/03caz0dKSH
— Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) March 15, 2024
“We have been clear since day one that the ‘Right To Shelter’ was never intended to apply to large-scale migrant populations arriving without housing or legal work status in such a short period of time,” Adams said. “This new agreement acknowledges the realities of where we are today, affirms our shared mission to help those in need and grants us additional flexibility to navigate this ongoing crisis.”
Officials said that under the new rule, migrants will have to leave shelters after 30 days and will not have the ability to reapply, though exceptions can be made for individuals with medical conditions or an “extenuating circumstance,” the press release reads. Migrants under the age of 23 will be allowed up to 60 days in shelter systems and migrant families will not be affected.
Under the Adams administration, shelter systems in the form of tent cities and converted hotels have popped up across the city for the 65,000 migrants living in them and relying on city services, according to the New York Times.
Adams warned last year that the migrant crisis had become so urgent that it threatened to bring ruin to the city.
“This issue will destroy New York City. We’re getting 10,000 migrants a month,” Adams said in September. “People all over the globe have made their minds up that they’re going to come through the southern part of the border and come into New York City.”
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