NEW YORK, CMC – New York City Public Advocate, Jumaane D. Williams, has questioned the Eric Adams administration’s new 60-day shelter stay limit for adult Caribbean and other migrants and refugees.
Many of the asylum seekers are nationals of Cuba, Haiti, and Venezuela.
Williams, the son of Grenadian immigrants, highlighted the need to uphold the right to shelter amid the refugee crisis and called for increased state and federal resources to support the asylum seekers.
“I recognize that the city was already in a preexisting housing crisis with a shelter system unequipped to accommodate over 100,000 people. At the same time, these living conditions are unacceptable, and the mayor’s continued efforts to undermine the right to shelter, most recently illustrated in his 60-day limit on shelter stays, will not address the root of the problem,” Williams said.
Last year, Williams said the average length of stay in a shelter for single adults was 509 days and that New York City needs help from the state and federal governments, as well as from neighboring communities, so as “not to weaken a crucial safety net for some of our most vulnerable.”
The Public Advocate recently visited the Roosevelt Hotel as refugees were forced to sleep outside. Earlier this month traveled to Washington to “advocate for a series of federal actions to alleviate the mounting humanitarian crisis.”
Williams has continued to stress the importance of meeting the needs of the newest New Yorkers “rather than stepping away from our moral and legal obligations while acknowledging the challenges of the moment and the need for all levels of government to provide aid.
“New York City cannot handle this crisis alone. We need assistance from the state and federal governments.
“The right to shelter has been in place for over 40 years, and that right does not simply expire after 60 days in the face of a crisis. While the challenges of meeting this emergency are immense, so too is our obligation to do all we can for the tired, the poor, the huddled masses,” Williams said, adding, “We should be focused on helping create opportunities for people who come here seeking asylum, not preemptively deny that our city is home to opportunity itself,” he added.
On Thursday, Adams disclosed updated figures on the asylum seeker crisis that will cost the city over the next two fiscal years if the state and federal governments do not take swift action to help further manage this emergency.
The mayor said New York City has already spent US$1.45 billion this fiscal year to provide shelter, food, and services to tens of thousands of asylum seekers. Still, without further support, new cost estimates, based on current trends, show that the city has the potential to spend upwards of US$12 billion over the next three fiscal years.
“Immigration is the New York story. It is the American story. But, as I declared nearly a year ago, we are facing an unprecedented state of emergency due to the asylum seeker crisis,” said Mayor Adams.
“Since last year, nearly 100,000 asylum seekers have arrived in our city asking for shelter, and we are past our breaking point.”
and then 