CONTACT: Mariah McGough, mariah@vocal-ny.org 

VOCAL-NY DECRIES MAYOR ADAMS’ PLANS TO REPEAL RIGHT TO SHELTER

NEW YORK — In response to news that Mayor Adams asked a judge to repeal NYC’s right to shelter, VOCAL-NY released the following statement, attributable to Adolfo Abreu, VOCAL-NY Housing Campaigns Director:

“Mayor Adams has been on a systematic war path to cut services and support for people experiencing homelessness since day one. He may talk about care and compassion, but weakening the right-to-shelter laws does the exact opposite.

The mayor is insistent on threatening existing social services apparatuses by pushing for budget cuts and threatening the right to shelter. We should be strengthening and bolstering an infrastructure of care — not starving it for funding and pitting people in need of services against each other. Put simply, Mayor Adams is using the influx of asylum-seekers as an excuse to dismantle the very laws and services that provide a minimum of dignity to those in shelters and on the streets.”

BACKGROUND:

According to the New York Times, this is the second time the Adams administration has sought relief from the right-to-shelter mandate. Earlier this month, the mayor issued an executive order that suspended rules requiring families to be placed in private rooms with bathrooms and kitchens, not in group settings, and that set a nightly deadline for newly arriving families to be placed in shelters.

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