Mayor Adams moves to suspend right-to-shelter citing migrant 'emergency'

Mayor Eric Adams is moving ahead with legal efforts to suspend New York City’s landmark right to shelter rules, as an influx of migrants continues to strain the city’s shelter system.

On the eve of the mayor’s trip to Latin America, city lawyers formally filed a legal application that will kickstart a months-long court battle with homeless advocates and could suspend hallmark protections for homeless New Yorkers that have been in place for decades.

In a revised application filed late Tuesday in state Supreme Court, lawyers for the city called the city’s right to shelter obligation “outmoded and cumbersome” and said that it “has unnecessarily deprived policymakers of much needed flexibility.”

But rather than exempting newly arrived migrants from the right to shelter as some expected, the newest court filing would apply to all homeless single adults, if granted by a judge.

The filing comes after months of negotiations with the state and the Legal Aid Society — which represents homeless New Yorkers — and marks a new phase in the legal conflict.

“The City’s shameful revised application would go far beyond limiting its obligation to provide some form of emergency shelter to asylum seekers and other new arrivals,” said Redmond Haskins, a spokesperson for Legal Aid and the Coalition for the Homeless, in a prepared statement Tuesday night.

Established in 1981, the so-called Callahan consent decree requires the city to provide shelter to any single man in need of it. Successive lawsuits established the right to shelter for single women and later, families.

Specifically, the city is seeking relief from providing shelter to single adults under two conditions: when there is a state of emergency and when the demand for shelter is at least 50% higher than during non-emergency periods.

In a statement, Adams said the city’s right to shelter obligation “was never intended to apply to the extraordinary circumstances our city faces today.”

The city is now more than a year into a crisis that has overwhelmed city officials and tested New York's commitment to provide safety net services to vulnerable populations.

“With more than 122,700 asylum seekers having come through our intake system since the spring of 2022, and projected costs of over $12 billion for three years, it is abundantly clear that the status quo cannot continue,” the mayor said.

The Adams administration has been increasingly curtailing the right to shelter among the adult migrant population. Under a recent policy, adult migrants are now forced to leave shelter after 30 days, down from 60. They may reapply if they have no other options.

The filing comes just as Adams is expected to leave on a four-day trip to Latin America in which he said he will personally discourage migrants from coming to the city.

In its statement, Legal Aid and the Coalition for the Homeless argued the suspension of the right-to-shelter mandate would have far-reaching effects on the city’s poorest residents, including working-class New Yorkers.

“If successful, the City would have the ability to declare an emergency, and effectively end the Right to Shelter for thousands of New Yorkers - including working poor individuals who rely on the shelter system and, alarmingly, individuals who rely on disability benefits,” Haskins said. “This abhorrent and unnecessary maneuver is a betrayal of the City’s commitment towards ensuring that no one is relegated to living - or dying - on the streets of our city.”

The headline of this story has been updated to more accurately reflect the legal steps taken by City Hall.