NEW YORK – The Legal Aid Society said New York City officials admitted further violations of housing rights laws after failing to provide beds for at least 60 men at a Manhattan shelter on Monday night.
Legal Aid Staff Attorney Joshua Goldfein says the New York City Department of Homeless Services spoke to the group, which represents people living in shelters, about the violations in a text message Tuesday early Tuesday. .
The Department of Homeless Services did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The lack of beds comes as the city’s reception system is undergoing a surge of thousands of migrants arriving from border states in New York City. It is one of the few municipalities entitled to the housing law, which ensures that anyone who comes to a designated reception center at a certain time must be admitted to a shelter on the same day.
Our sister chain NBC New York exposed further violations in the reception system for families with children in July.
In a statement, Legal Aid threatened to sue if the problems were not resolved.
“We are extremely alarmed at the frequency of these violations under this administration,” the statement said. “Every New Yorker, including an individual asylum seeker, has the legal right to be placed in a safe and dignified shelter.”
migrant crisis
The federal government is sending asylum seekers to New York in hopes of a better life, but the system has left many stranded and struggling.
The city previously admitted that on two nights in July, five families had not been adequately protected after showing up at the PATH shelter in the Bronx. That admission also became a source of controversy over who knew about the rapes and when, and whether there was an attempt to cover them up.
The city investigation department is looking into the matter now.
But the new and most recent violations involve single people showing up at 30th Street Intake Shelter in Manhattan, the sources said.
Hundreds of asylum seekers arrive in New York City every week, transported from Texas on buses sent by that state’s governor in the midst of a political dispute with the Biden administration.
New York Mayor Eric Adams said those immigrants would be welcomed with open arms, but he also called on the federal government to provide more financial assistance to the city to cover the costs.
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