“As of 2016, the city had over 1,131 (more or less) parcels of property at its disposal. Instead of using executive orders on projects that benefit a small group of people, the mayor has the power to relinquish parcels of land and abandoned property to address homelessness.”
The move reflects the organization’s expansion of housing and homelessness coverage at this pivotal moment for New York, as the city emerges from the pandemic amidst a housing affordability crisis and a rising shelter population.
After a two-month journey from South America to the U.S. Border and a two-day bus ride from Texas to New York City, immigrants who spoke with City Limits just wanted a bite to eat and a place to rest. “I just want to work and get ahead,” one recently-arrived man said.
The declaration will allow the city to open a new intake facility specifically for asylum-seekers and immigrants who have made their way to city shelters. It will also allow the Department of Homeless Services to issue contracts to nonprofits to open additional shelters, most likely in hotels, while bypassing public review and the usual competitive bidding process.
The decision Friday marks the first time a New York court has ruled that minimum-income policies for people with full-rent subsidies violate city and state laws, said Housing Works senior attorney Armen Merjian, who represented the family trying to get into Parkchester Preservation Company’s apartments.
“My whole crew is squatting,” Ronaldo Casanova told City Limits in April of 1990, when he was organizing fellow squatters on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. “We have no other choice or we’re out on the streets.”
“Shelters are not a stand-alone solution and just because we remove homeless people from our subways and streets doesn’t mean they have found a home.”
So far this year, city marshals have executed at least 1,527 residential evictions, according to statistics maintained by the Department of Investigation (DOI). The true number of legal evictions is likely higher because DOI updates its database only after a marshal reports an eviction, which can take days or weeks.
Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday doubled down on his claim that thousands of asylum-seekers have strained New York City’s homeless shelter system, causing his administration to break state law by keeping at least four families in an intake facility overnight.
City Limits rounds up the latest housing and land use-related events, public hearings and upcoming affordable housing lotteries that are ending soon.
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.
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