New Yorkers back ‘right to shelter,’ but hold ambivalent views on housing migrants

New polling of New Yorkers reveals wide-ranging ambivalence about the city’s sheltering of its burgeoning migrant population, including on such basic questions as whether the city should continue helping the newcomers settle — and for how long.

An email heralding a HarrisX survey published earlier this month was emphatic about a key finding: “NEW POLL: 4-in-5 NEW YORKERS ‘SUPPORT RIGHT TO SHELTER,’” which it defined as guaranteeing shelter “to every resident in need.” But mixed feelings emerge deeper into the survey: Just 58% agreed that the city’s “right to shelter should include all families in need, including asylum-seekers,” and 42% agreed that “the right to shelter should be limited to only New York families.”

At the same time, only 30% backed the statement that “New Yorkers should continue to accept new migrants and asylum-seekers,” while 70% agreed that “New Yorkers have already accepted enough migrants.” At the same time, 60% agreed “New Yorkers should continue to live by the words written on the Statue of Liberty, ‘Give me your tired, your poor … Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.’”

The survey – conducted for the New York Immigration Coalition and housing provider Win, led by Democrat and former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn – offers perhaps the deepest look yet into ordinary New Yorker's views about what many describe as the city's “migrant crisis.” HarrisX surveyed a representative 1,051 adults from all five boroughs. The poll had a margin of error of 3.02 percentage points.

It's a bad year for sanctuary cities. It’s an instance also where Democrats have stirred their own pot and allowed it to be stirred because now this is a debate, not so much between Democrats and Republicans, but between Democrats and themselves, not the least of which are the mayors of big cities versus the federal government.

John Zogby, pollster

The findings signal policy challenges for religious groups, nonprofits and advocacy groups aiding migrants and asylum-seekers. They also portend possible political difficulties for President Joe Biden, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams, as well as the City Council, state Legislature and Congress. Respondents handed each of them “underwater” approval ratings for their handling of the migrant issue: 37% for Biden’s administration; 39% for Hochul’s; 35% for Adams’; 36% for the Legislature; 36% for City Council; and 29% for Congress.

Pollster John Zogby, who is the founder of the Zogby International poll and was not involved in HarrisX's survey, said the findings show the migrant issue is not only a salient political issue in border states, but also in blue-dominated New York City. A record 300,000 migrants were processed at the southern border in December alone, while some 168,000 migrants and asylum-seekers have come to New York since spring 2022. About 70,000 of them are staying in city shelters, according to City Hall figures.

“It's a bad year for sanctuary cities,” Zogby said. “It’s an instance also where Democrats have stirred their own pot and allowed it to be stirred because now this is a debate, not so much between Democrats and Republicans, but between Democrats and themselves, not the least of which are the mayors of big cities versus the federal government.”

Jerry Skurnik, senior consultant at White Plains-based Engage Voters U.S., which provides voter data and consulting services to political campaigns, said he's seen few divisions related to immigration among New York Democrats so far. However, he noted that the upcoming special election to replace former Rep. George Santos in the 3rd Congressional District, which comprises parts of eastern Queens and Long Island's North Shore, largely hinged on the issue.

“Republicans are attacking Democrats on it,” Skurnik said.

The race pits Democrat Tom Suozzi against Republican Mazi Pilip. Suozzi has sought to get out front on the issue, putting out a campaign ad noting that “the migrant crisis has landed right in our own backyard,” and promising to “secure the border.”

More policy differences

Win is both the city's and the nation's largest provider of shelter and supportive housing for homeless families with children. The New York Immigration Coalition represents over 200 immigrant and refugee rights groups. Quinn and coalition members have frequently pushed back against policies of the Adams administration that are seen as eroding the “right to shelter,” a unique legal agreement requiring the city to provide shelter to needy residents.

Murad Awawdeh, the coalition's executive director, said the findings broadly show that “the majority of New Yorkers support our new arrivals and our right-to-shelter policy, while continuing to view New York as a city of immigrants.”

He added that when elected leaders wrongly “blame asylum-seekers for unrelated issues like budget cuts and crime, New Yorkers take our leaders at their word.”

“If anything,” Awawdeh said, “this should be a wake-up call to Mayor Adams to stop scapegoating migrants and start leading with transparency and humanity.”

In an emailed statement sent when partial survey results were released earlier, Adams' spokesperson Charles Lutvak noted that the respondents want more help from the federal government, including "a coordinated entry system that ensures migrants are not arriving in one, or even just a handful of cities across the country."

But the survey offered still more insight into New Yorkers' mixed views.

According to the results, 85% agreed with the statement that “every New Yorker in need should be entitled to a roof over their heads and a bed to sleep in until they get back on their feet.” At the same time, 57% said migrants and asylum-seekers with children should be required to reapply for shelter every 60 days; while 56% backed a 30-day requirement for migrants and asylum-seekers presumably without children.

The Adams administration recently started implementing such 60- and 30-day stay limits, with no guarantee that those who reapply for shelter will get a bed – over the objections of immigrant and housing rights activists. Some City Council Democrats have opposed instituting any stay limits for migrants and asylum-seekers.

Nonetheless, New Yorkers said they supported a wide range of policy measures to address homelessness and “manage the increase in migrants and asylum seekers”: 85% favored providing supportive services, including career counseling and help maintaining housing, for families leaving shelters so they do not return; while 76% supported having the federal government pay a larger share of the costs for feeding and housing migrants.

In addition, 75% of respondents approved of making it easier for migrants to work legally; 74% favored expanding access to housing vouchers for households who have been in shelters to make room for new arrivals; and 68% supported expanding access to housing vouchers to households in need, regardless of their immigration status.

But the survey revealed little confidence that the Adams administration was up to the task of addressing the issue; it scored a 54% disapproval rating. Only Congress, which had a 57% disapproval rating on its handling of the migrant issue, scored worse. The Biden administration logged a 52% disapproval rate. Lutvak said in the earlier statement that the mayor has repeatedly said, "and New Yorkers clearly understand, the federal government needs to finish the job they started," by allowing migrants to start work immediately, providing cities with more financial support and creating a coordinated entry system for migrants.

Still, the lack of confidence showed up earlier – in a Quinnipiac University poll in November that found only 26% of registered voters in the city approved of Adams' handling of the issue. But in that same survey, 80% found the federal government had done little to help. The survey was of 1,297 registered voters, with a margin of error of 2.7 percentage points.

Zogby said the migrant issue could have serious political implications. He noted that congressional Democrats “lost a bunch of swing seats” in New York in the 2022 midterm elections, when urban crime was a driving issue; immigration and border control would play a similarly strong role this year.

“This is sure to be one of the dominant ... issues in the 2024 campaign,” Zogby said.