NYC’s Mayor Adams reaches settlement in fight to roll back right to shelter

Published Mar 15, 2024 at 2:57 p.m. ET

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Published Mar 15, 2024 at 2:57 p.m. ET

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New York City officials agreed to preserve the city’s unique right-to-shelter rules while imposing time limits on stays for newly arrived adult migrants on Friday, extending a modified version of court orders guaranteeing a bed to anyone in need after a monthslong legal fight.

The settlement establishes minimum shelter requirements for homeless migrants seeking shelter and includes a 30-day shelter stay, or 60 days for adults under 23, as well as access to bathrooms, food and other needs.

As tens of thousands of recently arrived migrants entered the city’s shelter system, Mayor Eric Adams attempted to condition shelter availability on capacity limits determined by his administration. The Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless, which serve as court-appointed monitors of the city’s Department of Homeless Services shelter system, opposed the idea in court last May.

The court-ordered right-to-shelter rules date back to 1981. They guarantee a bed in a shelter to any individual or family experiencing homelessness and set minimum shelter requirements. No other U.S. city has such rules, which are credited with reducing street homelessness.

Legal Aid Society Chief Attorney Adrienne Holder said the settlement “safeguards the right to shelter.”

The conditions established in the settlement only apply to the current rise in migrants seeking shelter subsidies, she said.

Adams said the settlement allows his administration to limit shelter stays for migrants without violating court orders.

The agreement “grants us additional flexibility during times of crisis, like the national humanitarian crisis we are currently experiencing,” Adams said in a statement.

Adams imposed 30-day shelter limits on adults and 60-day limits for families staying in shelters run by other city agencies. He said the city’s right-to-shelter rules weren’t intended to provide beds for tens of thousands of migrants who have arrived since 2022.

Adams first asked a judge to reconsider the practice last May. In October, the city requested relief from providing shelter if the mayor declared a state of emergency or when the daily number of single adults seeking shelter increased by 50%.

In the four decades since the landmark decision, judges have issued additional orders bolstering the right to shelter and extending it to families with children.

Adams isn’t the first to try to change the rules. Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani vowed to eliminate the shelter guarantee and ex-Mayor Michael Bloomberg asked a judge to impose new rules forcing single adults to prove eligibility. The city also made it more difficult for families to enter the shelter system under Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Nearly 90,000 New Yorkers spend the night in DHS shelters, according to city records, and most are families with children.

Another roughly 34,000 people stayed in shelters intended to house newly arrived migrants in January, according to the most recently published city data.

Dave Giffen, the executive director of the Coalition for the Homeless, said he hoped the settlement ”finally puts an end to Mayor Adams’ efforts to dismantle this lifesaving cornerstone of New York’s response to homelessness.”

“For more than 40 years, New York’s legal right to shelter has distinguished our city as a community that demands basic standards of decency and humanity for anyone in need,” he said.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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Karen Yi covers homelessness and poverty. She joined the WNYC and Gothamist newsroom in 2020. Before that, Karen covered Newark for the Star-Ledger and spent almost a decade working for newspapers in New Jersey and Florida. She grew up in Miami and has a dog named Cashew. Got a tip? Email kyi@wnyc.org or Signal 917-589-1460.

David is a reporter covering housing for Gothamist and WNYC. Got a tip? Email dbrand@nypublicradio.org or Signal 908-310-3960.

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

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