RIGHT SPEAK: NYC Mayor Eric Adams Asks to Suspend ‘Right to Shelter’ Rule, Citing Illegal Immigrant Influx; Judge Will Hear NYC Right to Shelter Case as Mayor Seeks Crisis Limits

NYC Mayor Eric Adams Asks to Suspend ‘Right to Shelter’ Rule, Citing Illegal Immigrant Influx:

Democrat New York City Mayor Eric Adams is arguing in court for the suspension of the city’s “Right to Shelter” requirement, citing the ongoing influx of illegal immigrants and asylum seekers in the city.

Following a 1984 court decision known as the “Callahan consent decree,” New York City has had to provide shelter for virtually all homeless people who apply. Adams has been seeking a suspension or modification of this “Right to Shelter” rule and on Tuesday his office formally requested (pdf) that a New York City judge pause the shelter rule.

The Adams administration has been feeling a strain on its shelter capacity as a result of a prolonged influx of illegal immigrants and asylum seekers. The Mayor’s office has estimated more than 65,000 illegal immigrants and asylum have arrived in New York City since last year and more than 44,000 continue to use city shelters. In total, New York City is currently supporting 93,000 individuals in its shelter program; a number that “far exceeds the City’s previous highest-ever-recorded population of 61,000 individuals.”

Adams is seeking to modify the shelter rule by adding a provision that states: “The obligations to provide shelter to both homeless adults and to adult families shall be stayed when the City of New York acting through the New York City Department of Homeless Services (‘DHS’) lacks the resources and capacity to establish and maintain sufficient shelter sites, staffing, and security to provide safe and appropriate shelter.”

Adams defended his calls to suspend the “Right to Shelter” requirements in a Tuesday press statement.

“We are in no way seeking to end the right to shelter. Today’s action will allow us to get clarity from the court and preserve the right to shelter for the tens of thousands in our care—both previously unhoused individuals and asylum seekers,” Adams said. “Given that we’re unable to provide care for an unlimited number of people and are already overextended, it is in the best interest of everyone, including those seeking to come to the United States, to be upfront that New York City cannot single-handedly provide care to everyone crossing our border.” --->READ MORE HERE

Judge Will Hear NYC Right to Shelter Case as Mayor Seeks Crisis Limits:

The right to shelter has been in place for more than four decades in New York, after a court in 1981 required the city to provide temporary housing for every homeless person who asks for it

Mayor Eric Adams' administration has been granted the opportunity to see a judge and attempt to make a case that some of New York City's right-to-shelter obligations should be lifted amid the ongoing migrant crisis.

In an order dated May 25 and obtained by NBC New York, Deputy Chief Administrative Judge Deborah Kaplan responded to the city's request two days earlier that a judge be assigned to hear motions.

Kaplan assigned the matter to New York State Supreme Court Justice Erika M. Edwards.

The Adams administration has not laid out its legal arguments yet but says they want the mandate requiring housing for all childless adults suspended when the Department of Homeless Services is determined to be out of resources and unable to provide safe and appropriate shelter. The city says it won't try to lift its obligations to families with kids.

Adams is seeking to change a judgment agreed to by the city four decades ago. The Democrat argues it's antiquated, was never intended to apply to tens of thousands of incoming asylum seekers, and ties the city's hands.