Exterior of the Rider Benefits Access Center in the Bronx. (Emma Whitford/City Limits)
The volume of cash assistance applications in New York City has increased dramatically in recent years. But as more households receive aid, the city is also issuing more procedural denials, in the hundreds of thousands.
“Instead of 100,000 migrants by mid-2024, we expect to care for 80,000 by June and 90,000 by the end of the year,” Mayor Eric Adams said while unveiling his budget Tuesday, saying a combination of strict limits on immigrant shelter stays and “reticketing” efforts to move immigrants to locations outside the city helped drive that estimate down.
Mientras que la administración de Eric Adams ha estado emitiendo plazos en refugios para inmigrantes adultos durante meses, y para algunas familias con niños en hoteles como parte de una iniciativa separada, los desalojos del martes fueron los primeros en aplicarse a familias con niños siguiendo la política de la alcaldía.
While the Adams administration has been issuing shelter deadlines to adult immigrants for months, and to some families with kids in hotels as part of a separate initiative, Tuesday’s evictions were the first to apply to families with children under City Hall’s broader policy, which officials say is an effort to manage more than 168,500 new arrivals since 2022—69,000 of whom remain in the city’s care.
After failing to pass her ambitious Housing Compact proposal last year, Gov. Kathy Hochul is using a lighter touch on housing—but state and city lawmakers have expressed hope for a potential compromise to both increase the development of affordable homes and protect tenants.
In a Tuesday letter, Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said the Department of Social Services has until Feb. 7 to begin implementing CityFHEPS voucher bills or her body will have “no other option” but to take legal action.
The governor’s State of the State address will include proposals to discourage landlords—and insurance companies—from business practices rooted in anti-voucher bias.
Despite a veto override, a December letter from Department of Social Services Commissioner Molly Park says certain CityFHEPs voucher legislation passed by the City Council “cannot be implemented at this time.”
State lawmakers passed two bills last year intended to help New York City tenants root out—and undo—illegal rent hikes, but only one received Gov. Kathy Hochul’s signature.
“Let us keep in front of mind that these were people who had hopes, dreams and stories,” said George Nashak, CEO of Care for the Homeless.
City Limits uses investigative journalism through the prism of New York City to identify urban problems, examine their causes, explore solutions, and equip communities to take action.
Founded in 1976 in the midst of New York’s fiscal crisis, City Limits exists to inform democracy and equip citizens to create a more just city. The organization is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit funded by foundation support, ad sponsorship and donations from readers.
Support local, investigative journalism that has informed and empowered New Yorkers for 45 years.
Support local, investigative journalism that has informed and empowered New Yorkers for 45 years.
