Elected officials and a range of homeless and immigration advocates called on the mayor to halt the displacement of asylum seekers with families from shelters after 60 days, a new rule that takes effect today.
A coalition of migrant advocates on Monday said the eviction of migrants with children currently in Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers (HERRC) is downright cruel.
“Enacting the 60-day limit in the middle of winter is unnecessarily callous towards asylum seeking families with children,” said Comptroller Brad Lander. “These children were just able to settle down in schools, parents were able to seek work all because of the small modicum of stability shelter provided as they worked to get on their feet. City Hall must reverse its 60-day shelter policy, one of the cruelest policies in generations, in the greatest immigrant city the world has ever known.”
Mayor Eric Adams announced the 60-day notice for families to leave their shelter in October, which would have initially evicted families around Christmas. This was postponed until the new year with the rule set to be enacted today.
Due to poor communication between the city and asylum seekers at risk of eviction, some families are uncertain about when they are expected to leave and when and where a new bed will be available, advocates said.
The administration enacted the 30-day limit for single adults at the end of November, which has led to long lines of people waiting in the cold for hours to re-apply for shelter.
The displacement will cause a major disruption for children attending New York City schools, advocates said. Those children may be forced to either transfer schools or navigate longer commutes from a further away shelter in the middle of the academic year. Uprooting children from their school could be painful setback for students who formed relationships with teachers, friends, and the school environment, advocates said.
“Eric Adams is ringing in the new year by endangering the lives of asylum seeker children and their families," said Liza Schwartzwald, director of economic justice and family empowerment at the New York Immigration Coalition. "On the heels of our first winter storm, this administration will begin throwing children out onto the streets, creating not only a costly logistical nightmare for city agencies and services but a tragic humanitarian crisis."
The advocates called for a myriad of alternative policy solutions including permanent pathways to housing, enhanced legal services and case management and removing administrative obstacles to providing new shelter beds.
“Evicting new arrivals, including families with children, from shelter in the dead of winter and during the middle of the school year is cruel, bad policy, and simply not who we are as New Yorkers,” said Judith Goldiner, attorney-in-charge of the civil law reform unit at the Legal Aid Society. “To bolster shelter capacity, the city should implement the entire suite of common-sense policies that we have called for since last spring instead of forcing new arrivals to languish on local streets, exposed to the elements, and at risk of life and limb."
