New York City's Struggle with Migrant Influx: A Controversial Battle over the Right to Shelter
As New York City struggles with the burden of an unprecedented influx of migrants, Mayor Eric Adams has turned to increasingly divisive rhetoric and policies, sparking resistance from homeless advocacy groups such as the Legal Aid Society, the Coalition for the Homeless, and the New York Shelter for All in Need Equally coalition.[1] Specifically, Adams is seeking to suspend the right to shelter, a legal obligation enshrined in the Callahan v. Carey case, in times of emergency. This influential legal precedent, established in 1979, asserts that New York City must provide shelter for anyone in need.
The Callahan v. Carey case was grounded in a clause in the New York Constitution that stipulates that “aid, care and support of the needy” are public concerns. After the case was decided, disputes around the specificities continued until 1981, when the state signed a consent decree where they agreed to provide shelter and board to all homeless men who meet the standard of need for welfare or need temporary shelter due to physical, mental, or social dysfunction. The decree also detailed standards that must be maintained in shelters. Subsequent litigation established the same rights for women and families with children.[2]
Since the spring of 2022, approximately 123,000 asylum seekers have come to the city and invoked this right, straining the city’s resources and the shelter system.[3] A substantial portion of these migrants hail from Latin America, arriving from the southern border. Within this group, a significant number of individuals are fleeing from Venezuela, where the country’s economic collapse and repressive government have driven seven million citizens to seek refuge elsewhere, including throughout Texas, and in Chicago and New York City. These migrants lack social connections within the United States and possess limited financial resources, rendering them particularly reliant on assistance from the city government.[4]
In response to the mounting challenge, the city hastily established an additional 150 shelters, setting up sites in unorthodox locations, such as in a cruise ship terminal in Brooklyn and on soccer fields in Randall’s Island.[5] Eric Adams has argued that housing these migrants is becoming increasingly infeasible and has estimated that the cost of housing the migrants—in addition to their education and health care—will reach a staggering $12 billion over the next three fiscal years.[6]
Adams contends that “this issue will destroy New York City.” Critics from homeless advocacy groups, however, have accused the mayor of overexaggerating the scale of the problem and employing fear tactics to rally political support.[7] Despite this criticism, New Yorkers agree that the challenges posed by the migrant crisis cannot be denied and that solutions must be pursued, as 58% of voters agree with Adams that the influx of migrants “will destroy” the city.[8]
Eric Adams has explored several strategies to address the crisis. He first attempted to ebb the flow of migrants to New York City, embarking on a four-day trip through Latin America, where he discouraged individuals from coming to New York.[9] The city also began distributing flyers at the southern border that emphasize the city’s high cost of living and state that there is no guarantee that migrants will receive help should they come, despite the existing right to shelter.[10]
Eric Adams has also pushed for a “decompression” strategy, calling on the governor, Kathy Hochul, to help move migrants throughout New York State, instead of having migrants concentrate solely in the city. Although Hochul and Adams have forged a tight bond and Hochul has backed Adams in most initiatives addressing the migrant crisis, this strategy strains their alliance. Hochul opposes mandating other counties to accept migrants and has publicly stated that the state has taken significant action by allocating $1.5 billion to the city this year and deploying the National Guard.[11]
To mitigate costs, Adams temporarily expanded the rights of asylum seekers in New York City. His initiatives include expanding the housing voucher program, and extending rent subsidies across the state rather than confining them to the five boroughs.[12] City officials believe that the cost of providing subsidies is lower than paying for shelter for all. Mayor Adams and Governor Hochul also compelled the Biden administration to allow hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans who arrived in the country before July 31st to live and work legally in the country for 18 months. This policy enables migrants to support themselves and their families while awaiting asylum determinations, reducing the financial burden on the city. Eric Adams is continuing to push for further expansion of these special protections for migrants from other nations.[13] This expansion of rights has been supported by homeless advocacy groups who view these actions as the necessary solution to the crisis.
However, concurrent with these efforts, Mayor Adams has also pursued more restrictive and more controversial measures around sheltering migrants. He halved the time that adult asylum seekers are allowed to stay in shelters, from 60 days to just 30 days.[14] He has also limited the time that migrant families with children can stay in shelters to 60 days.[15] After the designated amount of time has elapsed and migrants have not found alternative housing, they are required to leave and return to a migrant intake center to reapply for a shelter bed, leaving them without a place to stay and sleep in the interim.
Most controversially, Eric Adams, with support from Kathy Hochul, has challenged the doctrine of the right to shelter. The city’s lawyers wrote a letter to Erika Edwards, a New York Supreme Court justice, requesting the suspension of the right to shelter whenever the governor or mayor declares a state of emergency—as they have in this case—and when the demand for shelter is at least 50% higher than during non-emergency periods. Adams contends that this change to the right to shelter is necessary, and allows the government to be transparent as New York City is simply “unable to provide care for an unlimited number of people.” He states that “it is in the best interest of everyone, including those seeking to come to the United States, to be upfront that New York City cannot single-handedly provide care to everyone crossing our border.”[16] Mayor Adams has also stated that the cost of housing all migrants would force him to cut other important government programs that aid those in poverty, and thus changing the decree established in Callahan v. Carey is in the best interest of New York City.[17]
Homeless advocacy groups have argued that Adams’ proposed change is unconstitutional and have sued the city over the mayor’s current efforts to limit the right to shelter.[18] The complaint is currently in the hands of the New York Supreme Court. Presently, the parties are engaged in mediation and Adam’s petition to change Callahan is pending. The judge is hoping that the parties will be able to find common ground and a solution without changing the consent decree.[19]
[4] https://www.vox.com/policy/2023/9/26/23875580/new-york-city-migrant-crisis-influx-eric-adams
[5] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/23/nyregion/right-to-shelter-nyc.html
[6] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/20/nyregion/biden-adams-migrants.html
[10] https://www.vox.com/policy/2023/9/26/23875580/new-york-city-migrant-crisis-influx-eric-adams
[11] https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/21/hochul-adams-migrant-crisis-new-york-00111940 , AND https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/09/what-eric-adams-is-getting-wrong-about-nycs-migrant-crisis.html
[12] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/06/nyregion/nyc-right-to-shelter-migrants.html
[13] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/20/nyregion/biden-adams-migrants.html
[14] https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/politics/2023/09/22/adams-limits-migrants-at-shelters-to-30-days
[16] https://www.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/355-23/mayor-adams-on-new-york-city-s-right-shelter-law
[17] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/04/nyregion/eric-adams-right-to-shelter-migrant-crisis.html#:~:text=%2C%E2%80%9D%20she%20said.-,Mr.,House%20is%20wrong%2C%E2%80%9D%20Mr. AND https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/04/nyregion/eric-adams-right-to-shelter-migrant-crisis.html#:~:text=Mayor%20Eric%20Adams%20is%20seeking,arriving%20from%20the%20southern%20border
[18] https://abc7ny.com/nyc-asylum-seeker-crisis-migrants-protests/13796466/
Sylvie Watts is a sophomore concentrating in political science and computer science. You can reach her at sylvie_watts@brown.edu