Citywide
NYC Housing Calendar, June 11-17
Jeanmarie Evelly |
City Limits rounds up the latest housing and land use-related events, public hearings and affordable housing lotteries that are ending soon.
CITY VIEWS: OPINIONS and ANALYSIS
Opinion: Mayor Should Halt 60-Day Shelter Limits & Protect Vulnerable Families
Pierina Ana Sanchez and Rita Joseph |
“The 60-day shelter limit runs counter to the very purpose of shelters: to keep vulnerable homeless families and individuals safe and off the streets.”
Brooklyn
‘It’s Not the Place, But Where it’s Located’: Immigrant Families Weather First Weeks in Floyd Bennett Shelter
Daniel Parra |
City Limits recently spoke with several families about what it was like to live at the shelter, the first congregate facility in which the city has placed large numbers of immigrant families with children. All complained about the cold inside the tents, the remoteness, and inaccessibility.
CITY VIEWS: OPINIONS and ANALYSIS
Opinion: Mayor Adams’ 60-Day Shelter Rule Throws Families Out to the Cold
Murad Awawdeh |
“Mayor Adams plans to force families experiencing their very first winter in the United States to uproot their lives every 60 days, without an idea of where they’ll end up once they hit their shelter limit. Children will face the prospect of changing schools after finally settling into their current ones.”
Education
1 in 9 NYC Public School Students Experienced Homelessness Last Year: Report
Jeanmarie Evelly |
A record-high of 119,320 students during the 2022-2023 school year were living in the shelter system, “doubled up” in the housing of others or staying in hotels, motels or unsheltered, a new analysis found. The numbers mark the eighth consecutive year that the city’s population of homeless students surpassed 100,000.
Government
‘They Assigned Us Far Away’: As Shelter Limit Policy Expands, Some Families Are Already Too Familiar
Emma Whitford and Daniel Parra |
Hundreds of recently-arrived immigrant families with children have been subject to 28-day limits on hotel shelter stays in recent months, as the city insists it’s run out of space to lodge them. The program is separate from a broader announcement Mayor Eric Adams made Monday, as his administration plans further shelter deadlines for a population long singled out as a priority for stable placements.
Albany
Opinion: New York Must Do More to House Immigrant Survivors of Domestic Violence
Gabriela Sandoval Requena |
“For mixed-status households, where at least one member of the family is not a U.S. citizen or eligible immigrant, it can be difficult—if not impossible—to access sufficient housing support.”
Government
Asylum-Seeker Families Decry Sudden Transfer from Emergency Shelter in Queens
Daniel Parra |
“When I told them I was assigned to room 503, the staff told me it’s an office,” said Carlos, who asked that his full name not be used for fear of retaliation. “I went in and saw that there was no window. How are they going to have children in the summer in these conditions?”
Government
Mayor Suspends Some ‘Right to Shelter’ Rules in Scramble to House Asylum Seekers
Daniel Parra, Jeanmarie Evelly and Emma Whitford |
The mayor defended the move, saying the city had little choice as it struggles to keep up with a ballooning shelter population. But advocates say the change undermines the city’s social safety net and protections to ensure homeless families with children have access to safe conditions.
A Family Affair: Parents, Children and NYC's Homelessness Crisis
NYC’s Schools Funding Formula Should Consider Homeless Students, Advocates Say
Julian Roberts-Grmela |
The Fair Student Funding Formula, used to distribute the majority of New York City’s education budget to each of its 1,600 public schools, has been criticized for failing to provide enough funds to students who need it most, including those in temporary housing and in the foster care system. A working group has until the end of October to recommend changes.
