NYC botched rollout of shelter-stay limits for migrant families: Comptroller
Comptroller slams NYC's shelter limit for migrants
New York City's Comptroller's Office has released a scathing report, claiming the rollout of Mayor Eric Adams' 60-day shelter limit for migrant families was sloppy and that the city failed to keep many of its promises. FOX 5 NY's Stephanie Bertini takes a closer look.
NEW YORK - A scathing new report by the New York City Comptroller's Office claims that the rollout of the city's 60-day shelter limit for migrant families was sloppy and that the city failed to keep many of its promises.
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander just released the results of an investigation into the policy which has been in place for a few months. A similar policy of 30 days is in place for single men and women.
"The 60-day policy was implemented in a haphazard and arbitrary way," Lander said in a press conference on Thursday.
Lander is asking the city to get rid of the policy, claiming that it is creating displacement issues for asylum seekers and suggesting better case management.
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A surge of migrants crossing the U.S.'s southern border has stretched the city's shelter system to and beyond its limits, as many migrants choose to come to New York City for its right-to-shelter mandate and because it is a sanctuary city.
While families have a 60-day limit for time spent in shelters, single migrants have just a 30-day limit. Once their time is up, migrants can reapply and will be given a new place to live if needed.
However, according to Lander, the policy is creating major displacement issues for families by constantly moving them.
In a statement to Fox 5 News a City Spokesperson said: "With more than 195,000 migrants coming through our care since the spring of 2022 – more than 65,600 of which are still in our shelter system – and hundreds of more people arriving every single day asking for shelter, our 30-and-60-day notices are one tool in our very limited toolbox to help migrants to exit shelter because, as we have repeatedly said, New York City is long past its breaking point. Nearly half of all families who have seen their 60-day notices expire, and more than 65 percent of all migrants that have come through our care, have moved out of our shelter system — without a single migrant family with children being forced to sleep on the street. While several suggestions made in the comptroller’s report are already part of our policy, any ideas on how to improve our herculean work are welcome and will be considered. But let’s be clear: A national humanitarian crisis requires a national solution. We continue to ask that all New Yorkers join us in calling on the federal government for meaningful financial support, to create a national resettlement strategy for migrants, and to finish the job they started by allowing the hundreds of thousands of those they let into this country to immediately work."
The full results of the investigation can be found at this link.