Photo Courtesy of Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office
Mayor Eric Adams
By Michael V. Cusenza
Mayor Eric Adams today released the following statement after the New York City Department of Law filed an application for modification of provision of final judgment following a 1984 consent decree in Callahan v. Carey related to the city’s Right to Shelter law:
“From the start, let us be clear, that we are in no way seeking to end of the right to shelter. Today’s action will allow us to get clarity from the court and preserve the right to shelter for the tens of thousands in our care — both previously unhoused individuals and asylum seekers. Given that we’re unable to provide care for an unlimited number of people and are already overextended, 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. Being dishonest about this will only result in our system collapsing, and we need our government partners to know the truth and do their share.
“For more than a year, New York City has — largely on its own — provided shelter, food, clothing, and more to over 70,000 migrants who have arrived in our city. We now have more asylum seekers in our care than New Yorkers experiencing homelessness when we came into office. When the original Callahan consent decree came down almost 40 years ago, no one could have contemplated, foresaw, or even remotely imagined a mass influx of individuals entering our system — more than doubling our census count in slightly over a year. Our city has done more to support asylum seekers than any other city in the nation, but the unfortunate reality is that the city has extended itself further than its resources will allow.”
In the City’s May 23 application to the Hon. Deborah Kaplan, City Corporation Counsel Sylvia Hinds-Radix wrote, “This ongoing flood of asylum-seeke rs arriving in New York City from the southern border represents a crisis of national, indeed international dimension; yet, the challenges and fiscal burden of this national crisis have fallen almost exclusively upon the City. As the country’s by-default backstop for intemational and national policy failures, as well as inter- and intra-state political maneuvering, all entirely outside of its control, the City is now facing an unprecedented demand on its shelter capacity. These unprecedented demands on the City’s shelter resources confront the City Defendant with challenges never contemplated, foreseeable, or indeed even remotely imagined by any signatory to the Callahan Judgment.
“The dire extremity of this crisis does not represent a failure of will or commitment on the City’s part to asylum-seeking individuals and families seeking refuge from the peril and hardship in their countries of origin; rather it results precisely from that commitment: the City has done far more than many other – if not all – other jurisdictions in the United States for this desperate population. The unfortunate reality is that the City has extended itself further than its resources will allow, placing in jeopardy the City’s obligations to manage its fisc in order to maintain critical infrastructure and services and provide for the well-being of all of its citizens.”
Last week, Adams announced that he was reversing his decision to convert some public school gyms into emergency migrant shelters.
“We’ve won this battle, but the war continues,” Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Ozone Park) said. “We can’t rest on our laurels now. We need to keep fighting until we end NYs status as a sanctuary city.”
