NYC expands 30-day stay limits to single adult migrants in DHS shelters

The Adams administration, looking to free up space in the city's beleaguered shelter system, will begin sending notices Monday to single adult migrants in Department of Homeless Services accommodations directing them to leave within 30 days, City Hall confirmed to Gothamist.

The new round of 30-day notices is part of the Adams administration’s effort to limit shelter stays for an expanding pool of migrants–to free up space for still more migrants coming to New York.

The city administration's limits on shelter stays for migrants—30 days for single adults and 60 days for families—previously only targeted those living in shelters run by other agencies, such as the Office of Emergency Management and Health and Hospitals system.

DHS shelters are governed by stricter rules, and bypassing them has required waivers from the state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance.

Anthony Farmer, a spokesperson for the OTDA, said the agency recently approved DHS’ “request to issue 30-day notices to adults without children in DHS facilities serving migrant adults.” He added the notices will inform recipients that they will be relocated to another facility at the end of the 30-day period if they can’t find another place to stay.

DHS will distribute 30-day notices across 14 emergency sites in the coming weeks, as part of the “first phase” of the expanded effort to clear shelter space, according to an email obtained by Gothamist that was sent by mayor’s office staff to local officials.

City Hall spokesperson Kayla Mamelak did not provide specifics but confirmed that the city would begin handing out notices to single adult migrants in DHS shelters starting on Monday.

“NYC’s shelter system is at its breaking point, and we continue to work to find sustainable ways to provide shelter for the hundreds of asylum seekers in need continuing to arrive in the city every week,” according to the guidance from the mayor’s office explaining the move.

Migrants getting notices will receive “intensified case management,” with “dedicated staff” helping them connect with relatives, make travel arrangements or transition to “alternate housing," according to the guidance. Migrants who receive notices are required to leave their current shelters, but are permitted to reapply for placement in another facility.

Department of Social Services Commissioner Molly Wasow Park announced the plan at a City Council hearing late last month, noting that a “very small fraction” of single adult migrants—about 2,000—were staying in DHS shelters.

Some 140,000 migrants have funneled through the city’s shelter intake system since spring 2022. Over 65,000 remain in the city’s care, including at some 210 emergency sites the city has opened up to accommodate the influx. Some migrants have been in the city’s care for months on end and long before the Adam administration began capping the length of shelter stays.

City officials have so far called the shelter cap program successful, saying that some 80% of migrants who have received notices they reached their stay limit—some 8,480 migrants as of Oct. 29—have exited the shelter system. But officials don’t track where they’re landing.

Immigrant and housing advocates meanwhile continue to decry the shelter limits as unnecessary, a potential encroachment on decades-old right-to-shelter rules, and a disruptive force as migrants start to find jobs and enroll their children in school.

"It doesn't make sense to uproot somebody and send them to an office to have this conversation," said Josh Goldfein, staff attorney at Legal Aid, referring to case work conversations helping migrants find another place to stay. "They should be having it on an ongoing basis."

City officials testified in last month’s city council hearing that they weren't planning to expand the shelter limits to families staying in DHS shelters, but Goldfein said it's "certainly a concern” that such “punitive measures” could be in store for families.

This article was updated with comment from Anthony Farmer, spokesperson for the state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance.