What to Know
- Mayor Eric Adams announced Monday an emergency procurement declaration that will allow New York City to rapidly contract with service providers and shelters in response to the migrant crisis.
- New York City is one of the few places in America with right to housing laws, which means anyone who shows up at designated city facilities by a certain time of day must be given shelter by the following morning
- Adams and city leaders say other states are taking advantage of that, sending thousands of immigrants to New York and pushing the city's already struggling shelter system to the brink.
Mayor Eric Adams announced Monday an emergency procurement declaration that will allow New York City to rapidly contract with service providers and shelters following the migrant crisis of asylum-seeking immigrants being sent to New York City from Texas and other border states.
New York City is one of the few places in America with right to housing laws, which require that anyone who shows up at designated city facilities by a certain time of day be given shelter by the following morning.
“New York is a city of immigrants, and we will always welcome newcomers with open arms. Over the past two months, we have seen a significant increase in the number of asylum seekers arriving in our city’s shelter system,” Adams said in a statement.
Adams and city leaders say others are taking advantage of that, sending thousands of immigrants to New York and pushing the city's already struggling shelter system to the brink. (Aid groups say the city isn't being entirely accurate and that the shelter system is overwhelmed by a variety of factors, including understaffing and a rising eviction rate.)
However, the arrival of migrants sent from other states has overwhelmed the shelters, according to sources.
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MIGRANT CRISIS IN NYC
“To fulfill our city’s legal and moral mandate to provide quality shelter to anyone experiencing homelessness, and to ensure we are providing appropriate services to asylum seekers, we are immediately issuing an emergency procurement declaration to rapidly procure additional shelter and services to serve these individuals and families," Adams went on to say. "We are working across city agencies and with not-for-profit partners to ensure these individuals have access to a range of services, including legal support, health care, and education. We can no longer wait."
About 4,000 asylum seekers have entered New York City's shelter system since late May, the main driver of the roughly 10% in the New York City Department of Homeless Services' census. On average, the city's shelter system currently receives more than 100 additional asylum seekers seeking some form of housing per day, the city says.
These numbers are an estimate based on interviews with people entering the shelter system as the city does not track people's immigration status on intake forms to protect individuals from federal detention or deportation.
Therefore, according to the city, an increase of about 4,000 people requires a significant number of new shelter sites to ensure adequate capacity.
According to officials, the city is still in talks with the federal government to seek reimbursement for emergency costs.
