This week, the Adams Administration will begin enforcing its 30-day and 60-day shelter limits on adult and young adult asylum seekers, and move to evict individuals residing in Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers (HERRCs). Effective May 27, all single adult asylum seekers will be subject to these new shelter limits.
The facts below provide clarity on the Mayor’s policy and shine a light on the massive harm it will impose on New York City:
FACT: Shelter limits are set to raise street homelessness.
- Upwards of 250 asylum seekers will be evicted from shelters this week. An additional 6,500 asylum seekers have received 30- or 60-day eviction notices that will be enforced later this summer.
- With limited employment opportunities and legal resources, many asylum seekers will have no other choice but to sleep in the streets.
FACT: Shelter limits will cost the city billions of dollars.
- The NYC Independent Budget Office (IBO) recently estimated up to an additional $2 billion in negative fiscal consequences as a result of the Mayor’s shelter eviction policies.
- The increase in cost is attributed to healthcare and the overall economic impact of missing work authorizations keeping new arrivals out of the mainstream economy.
FACT: The Adams administration’s limited guidance for reapplying to shelter opens the door to chaos and confusion.
- Individuals facing eviction may apply for an extension if they can demonstrate “extenuating circumstances” such as medical conditions or “significant efforts” to secure their own housing.
- The Adams administration plans to process shelter reentry applications on a case-by-case basis with no standardized procedures for assessing an individual’s extenuating circumstances.
- An investigation by NYC Comptroller Brad Lander found the Adams administration implemented the 60-day shelter limit on families in a “haphazard manner” and that city-provided case management does little to help asylum seekers achieve self-sufficiency. Single adults and adult families have yet to receive any clarity on this process.
FACT: New York City’s Right to Shelter remains in effect.
- The 30-day rule is part of a limited modification of New York City’s landmark Right to Shelter law following a settlement with the Legal Aid Society and Coalition for the Homeless. This modification is temporary and will be removed when the city lifts its current state of emergency. The underlying landmark law remains in effect.
FACT: Short-term investments to meet the basic needs of new New Yorkers will yield significant long-term economic benefits.
- For every 1,000 new migrant workers in NYC, an associated $23 million in wages and $2.6 million in state and local taxes are created within their first year of arrival.
- Immigrant New Yorkers are more likely to be employed, are more likely to create jobs by starting a business, and contribute billions of dollars to our New York economy in spending power and tax revenue. In New York City, immigrants make up 43% of our workforce.