NYC Council Member Hanif Introduces Bill To Ban Shelter Stay Limits For Asylum Seekers

USANewsOnline.Com Desk, New York : At Thursday’s Stated Meeting of the New York City Council, Immigration Committee Chair Council Member Shahana Hanif, introduced new legislation (Intro 1212) to combat the Mayor’s recent limits on shelter stays for asylum seekers. The Brooklyn Council Member’s bill would prohibit limitations on shelter stays in Department of Homeless (DHS) shelters and bar restrictions on stays for asylum seekers in Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers (HERRCs) or Respite Centers.

The 30-day directive, introduced by Mayor Adams over the summer, forces asylum seekers to leave their housing, return to the Roosevelt Hotel intake center, and reapply for a shelter spot. The first batch of eviction notices went into effect a little over a week ago, forcing some asylum seekers to leave shelter while the City experienced the wettest day since Hurricane Ida. To date, nearly 14,000 asylum seekers have received 60 or 30-day eviction notices, with many scrambling to find new accommodations on such short notice.
“For centuries, New York City has opened its arms to refugees and immigrants fleeing violence and looking for a better life. But under this Mayor, our City is abandoning that sacred past and kicking asylum seekers to the curb,” said Immigration Committee Chair, Council Member Shahana Hanif. “It is shameful that this Council needs legislation to ensure that people who came to our City looking for refuge aren’t put out onto the streets. Our City faces a pivotal moment in responding to this recent wave of new arrivals, but we must face this historic moment with compassion and care.”
Council Member Hanif introduced the bill with Council Members Restler, Gutiérrez, De La Rosa, Hudson, Sanchez, Nurse, and Won and the support of a broad coalition of homeless service providers, like WIN and Coalition For The Homeless, as well as legal advocacy organizations, like Legal Aid Society and Urban Justice Center. The sizable coalition of support behind this legislation demonstrates not only the moral opposition to these eviction notices but their unpopularity as well.
“It is inhumane to further displace a population of people who have sought our aid due to traumatic displacement in their home countries. Evicting shelter residents is an ineffective housing mitigation plan that exacerbates homelessness in the city and creates unnecessary additional work for our understaffed agencies. The Council has proposed long-term legislative solutions that alleviate the process of finding permanent housing with the benefit of freeing up space in our shelters, and we must continue to look toward strengthening our safety net infrastructure,” said Councilmember Carmen De La Rosa.
While the City faces mounting costs and logistical concerns with ongoing waves of new arrivals, the 30 and 60-day directives are a cruel response to this humanitarian emergency. Prior to the arrival of the first asylum seeker, the DHS shelter system was already caring for over 60,000 homeless New Yorkers. The aim of Council Member Hanif’s bill is to force the administration to abandon its plan to free up shelter through evictions and rather move long-term homeless New Yorkers out of the shelter system and into permanent housing. The Council Member was a strong supporter of the City FHEPS reform, policies that will help move homeless New Yorkers out of shelters and into housing, while the Mayor vetoed the historic package and has dragged his feet on implementation.
“Shelter residents need comprehensive case management services to help them use whatever tools are available to help them move out of shelter,” said Joshua Goldfein, Staff Attorney at the Legal Aid Society’s Homeless Rights Project. “Imposing arbitrary time limits on shelter stays is disruptive and will not help people become self-sufficient.”
“Coalition for the Homeless strongly supports this bill because arbitrary deadlines on shelter stays are inhumane and only serve to perpetuate mass homelessness,” said Will Watts, Deputy Executive Director for Advocacy at Coalition For The Homeless. “It is unfortunate that we even need to adopt measures like this bill to prevent misguided policies that create confusion and relegate individuals to the streets. We urge the Adams Administration to stop mismanaging this situation and instead to adopt laws that expand the supply of and ensure access to affordable housing.
“The 30-day and 60-day rules targeting recent immigrants are cruel and unfair and should not be implemented. Right to shelter is critical – everyone is entitled to a place to shower, sleep and take care of themselves,” said Maria Walles, leader with the Safety Net Activists at the Urban Justice Center. “It doesn’t make sense for people to constantly be reapplying for shelter, going back to intake with all their belongings, and having to relocate themselves and their families over and over again. We thank Council Member Hanif for calling out this cruelty and call on the Council to pass this bill immediately given the current emergency.”
“Everyone deserves a safe place to rest their heads at night, whether they have been in New York City for a few days or a lifetime. By ending Mayor Adams’ cruel 30- and 60-day shelter stay limits, this bill will help preserve community ties among asylum-seekers and neighbors and reduce disruptive moves between shelter placements and the intake center,” said Bennett Reinhardt, Advocacy Coordinator and Neighborhood Organizer at the Open Hearts Initiative. “We thank Council Member Hanif and all of the co-sponsors for introducing and championing this legislation, and our Open Hearts chapters look forward to helping move it forward in the coming weeks.”
“New York Legal Assistance group (NYLAG) is thrilled to support this very important legislation” said Deborah Berkman, Supervising Attorney of NYLAG’s Shelter Advocacy Initiative. “Every human needs and deserves a place to sleep inside and policies that limit shelter stays force people into street homelessness. This essential bill will ensure that every New Yorker has a safe, indoor place to sleep, regardless of immigration status. We look forward to remaining a steadfast partner in justice with all people experiencing homelessness.”
“The 60 and 30-day shelter stay limits are trauma-inducing policies that will worsen the ongoing homelessness crisis while betraying New York City’s values in the process. The City must look at solutions to this crisis that prioritize moving families out of shelter and into permanent housing, not policies that inhumanely force them onto the streets,” said Christine Quinn, President and CEO of Win. “I applaud Council Member Hanif for introducing legislation to stop this harmful policy. Unless we enact these guardrails, we risk families with children living on New York City streets in the months to come. Win will continue to work with the City Council and City Hall to enact sustainable policies that will move our city out of this crisis while supporting our newest New Yorkers.”
“Every time a family or individual experiencing homelessness is forced to exit shelter, they lose continuity of services,” said Eric Lee, Director of Policy and Planning for Homeless Services United. “It is another chance for households to fall between the cracks. People in shelter need access to comprehensive case management services and housing resources to help them attain stability. We urge the City to swiftly implement the recently passed CityFHEPS legislation to help more households in shelter to find permanent homes.”
“Homeless New Yorkers, irrespective of their immigration status, must be offered safe shelter. The administration’s efforts to implement arbitrary time-limits for people in shelters will only result in a historic increase in street homelessness, right at the beginning of winter, and create forced interactions with the NYPD likely leading to unnecessary arrest and incarceration, simply for being homeless. This in turn could impact any form of immigration relief sought and subject homeless migrants to a future inability to seek employment, resulting in yet another form of persecution,” said Craig Hughes, a social worker with Mobilization for Justice. “These shelter time-limits are part of a systematic effort by City officials to weaken the safety net for working class and poor New Yorkers, both new and old, in large part through mobilizing xenophobia against people already fleeing extremely traumatic and life-threatening circumstances. Councilmember Hanif’s bill is an important intervention to help safeguard one of the most fundamental rights that we should all expect from City government, which is the right to decent, affordable, and safe housing and, at all points, a right to shelter for all New Yorkers”
“We support Councilmember Hanif’s legislation to protect newly arrived immigrants from Mayor Adams’ cruel and arbitrary limits on their time in shelters,” said Charles King, CEO of Housing Works. “Adams’ policy penalizes newly arrived immigrants and threatens to increase street homelessness. This administration has been marked by xenophobia, harsh budget cuts, and a failure to serve the most vulnerable, and this new shelter policy is no different. New York has been a sanctuary city and place of opportunity for many generations of immigrants. Councilmember Hanif’s bill helps New York City remain a land of promise for these newest arrivals.”
About Council Member Shahana Hanif: Council Member Shahana Hanif is the Council Member for Brooklyn’s 39th District and Chair of the Council’s Immigration Committee. Born and raised in Kensington, Brooklyn, she is the daughter of two Bangladeshi Muslim immigrants. She is a product of public schools, having attended P.S. 230 and Brooklyn College, and is an activist, community organizer, and public servant. Before being elected to office, she served as the Director of Organizing and Community Engagement in Former Council Member, now Comptroller, Brad Lander’s office, where she led grassroots initiatives like Participatory Budgeting. Shahana is the first Muslim woman ever elected to the New York City Council and the first woman Council Member for the 39th District.