The Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless announced on Friday a settlement with the city to end the government’s legal challenge to New York’s long-standing Right to Shelter for single adults.
The settlement guarantees that:·
- all single adult new arrivals receive an initial 30-day shelter placement (60 days for single adults under the age of 23) if they do not have another place to stay;
- the city will eliminate the backlog of new arrivals who are reapplying for placement;
- the city will offer extended placement beyond 30 or 60 days for any single adult new arrival with a disability, in accordance with federal, state and local laws;
- at New York City Department of Homeless Services (DHS) shelters, Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers (HERRCs), hotels throughout New York State, and faith-based or community-based accommodations, the following will be provided to all single adult new arrivals:
- an appropriate number of staff based on an assessment of the needs of each site; and
- access to bathrooms, showers, and meals (or a meal allowance).
The settlement also requires the elimination of the use of “waiting rooms” as shelter. Recently, many new arrivals have waited for days or weeks on chairs and floors when they reapplied for shelter at the “Reticketing Center” after their initial 30-day shelter placements.
“This settlement safeguards the right to shelter in the consent decree, ensuring single adults’ - both long-time New Yorkers and new arrivals - access to shelter, basic necessities and case management to transition from shelter to housing in the community," said Adriene Holder, Chief Attorney of the Civil Practice at The Legal Aid Society. "It also requires the city to immediately eliminate the use of waiting rooms as shelters where new arrivals have been sleeping on chairs and floors while they wait for shelter placement. We will very closely monitor the City’s compliance with this settlement and we won’t hesitate to seek judicial intervention should there be noncompliance.”
