New York City considering 60-day limit for migrant families in homeless shelters
NEW YORK (WABC) -- A new 60-day limit in New York City could soon impact migrant families staying in city-run homeless shelters.
Officials say the initiative will be phased in over the next few months and no notices have gone out yet.
The plan will aim to start with families who have had the longest shelter stay.
Nearly 30,000 migrant parents and children currently live in shelters across New York City, but the city says they will not simply kick families out of shelters.
Officials say they will continue to work with families to figure out next steps before their 60 days is up.
Migrant families mostly live in the 150 or so shelters overseen by the State Department of Homeless Services, which is why the city needed to get state approval for the 60-day limit at the shelters.
Immigration advocates say this change does little to help migrant families and will leave them scrambling to find a new place to stay, particularly as the new school year starts.
But the city says these are necessary steps.
"There's preventive steps we're taking. If we build a system, if we've had 212,000 people still in our care, it's not financially sustainable. And it's just not the right things to do to human beings. People should not be in shelters their entire lives." Mayor Eric Adams said.
The New York Immigration Coalition responded with a statement that says, in part, "Shelters have always been designed to be a temporary stop-gap until families can get on their feet, but without inclusive and supportive housing solutions, our shelter system will remain overburdened and our families will continue to fall through the cracks."
Meanwhile, the city plans on moving 800 residents from the shelter on Randall's Island. The move comes as the city cracks down the encampments set up right next to the shelter, which is made up of those who have maxed out their stay.
As for the families who are now subject to the 60-day limit, the city says says families will be able to reapply to stay at another shelter if there is nowhere to go.
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