You could tell that the Biden border crisis had fully spiraled out of control last month when even New York City Mayor Eric Adams began calling on the City Council to abandon Gotham’s “right to shelter” policy which assures that everyone who asks for housing will be provided with a roof over their head. Despite the deplorable conditions on the streets, his request was still met with resistance and a legal scuffle ensued. That situation appeared to have been put to rest on Friday by a Manhattan Supreme Court Judge. The policy isn’t being eliminated entirely, but changes are being made that are intended to free up more shelter space more quickly. Unfortunately, the changes are largely cosmetic and they do nothing to address the underlying issues that made this such a crisis to begin with. (NY Post)
Mayor Eric Adams’ administration on Friday reached a deal in the migrant-fueled legal fight over the Big Apple’s decades-old “right to shelter” mandate that promises housing to anyone who asks for it.
Under the terms of the settlement, New York City will now essentially be allowed to limit whether a single adult migrant can reapply for shelter after their 30-day stay expires.
The deal doesn’t, however, effect migrant families with kids.
The settlement was announced by Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Gerald Lebovits on Friday afternoon.
This “solution,” for lack of a better term, is quite similar to what’s currently being attempted in Chicago. And it’s being similarly criticized for the same reasons. Instead of allowing all migrants to remain in shelters and receive public aid indefinitely, some will be removed after 30 days. In theory, that would free up roughly the same number of beds as “new arrivals” require beginning in a month.
In reality, however, that’s not what will happen. First of all, the new policy only applies to single, adult, male migrants. Married partners and those with children will not face eviction. Evicting some might be seen as better than evicting none, but people always find a way to game the system if they can. Single migrants will almost certainly find a partner to hook up with and pretend to be married so they can remain longer. Migrants trafficking children will likely just pretend that they are their own kids and threaten the children with retribution if they speak up. It will be surprising indeed if the numbers in the available shelters diminish significantly.
Yet even if they do, those being evicted will not be deported or even sent out of the city. They will simply be put out into the streets. Unless they decide to pack up and move on to look for a more welcoming environment, they will end up clogging up the parks and the subways as many have been doing since the beginning of the invasion.
Governor Kathy Hochul has recently backpedaled on the “right to shelter” issue as well. In fact, she’s sounding more and more like a Republican these days. After initially supporting the policy, this year she has reminded residents that the policy was originally only intended to assist homeless, single residents without family members or other resources to put them up. The policy was “never,” she said, intended to be “an unlimited universal right, or obligation on the city, to house literally the entire world.”
Oh, really? That comes as news to many of us who had interpreted it that way all along. This is a worthwhile reminder of something that we’ve been saying here for a long time now. The Democrats in New York and other large cities made a big deal out of proudly declaring themselves sanctuaries and describing anyone who opposed those policies as racists and xenophobes. But as soon as legions of migrants showed up to take them up on their generous offer, it wasn’t nearly as much fun anymore. Now, as noted above, even if they’re serious about taming this problem, they’re going to need to come up with a better solution. The new rules being implemented are no solution at all.
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