What to know
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is supporting the city’s effort to suspend a unique legal agreement that requires it to provide emergency housing to homeless people, as a large influx of immigrants overwhelms the city’s shelter system. The city has been trying for months to roll back the so-called right to housing rule following the arrival of more than 120,000 immigrants since last year. The shelter requirement has been in place for more than four decades in New York City.
NEW YORK — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is supporting the city’s effort to suspend a unique legal agreement that requires it to provide emergency housing to homeless people, as a large influx of immigrants overwhelms the city’s shelter system. the city.
Hochul backed New York City’s challenge to the requirement in a court filing this week and told reporters Thursday that the mandate was never intended to apply to an international humanitarian crisis.
The city has been trying for months to roll back the so-called right to housing rule following the arrival of more than 120,000 immigrants since last year. Many of the migrants have arrived without housing or jobs, forcing the city to build emergency shelters and provide various government services, at an estimated cost of $12 billion over the next few years.
The shelter requirement has been in place for more than four decades in New York City, following a legal settlement that required the city to provide temporary housing to all homeless people. No other major city in the United States has that requirement.
“I don’t know how the right to housing – dedicated to helping those people, who I believe in, to helping families – can or should be interpreted as an open invitation to 8 billion people who live on this planet, who if They are shown on the streets of New York that New York City has an obligation to provide them with a hotel room or shelter,” said Hochul, a Democrat.
Last week, New York City Mayor Eric Adams asked a court to allow him to lift the mandate when there is a state of emergency in which the population of single adults in shelters increases at a rapid rate. New York state on Wednesday filed a court document in support of the city’s request, calling it reasonable.
New York City has also tightened housing rules by limiting adult immigrants to just 30 days in city-run facilities amid overcrowding.
Dave Giffen, executive director of the Coalition for the Homeless, said the city’s request to lift the mandate would have broad impacts and could lead to large homeless encampments in New York.
“Make no mistake: If the mayor and governor have their way, they will close the doors of the shelter system to thousands of homeless people, leaving them with no place to sleep but the streets,” he said.
2023-10-12 20:32:36
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