New York City looks to amend ‘right to shelter’ rule as it struggles to house migrants

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• Amna Nawaz:

  Over the weekend, a number of buses carrying migrants who'd recently crossed the U.S. southern border were headed to New York, but they were diverted instead to New Jersey.

  It's the most recent effort by officials to manage a crisis that's seen hundreds of thousands of migrants arrive in Northern cities, more than 160,000 to New York alone since the spring of 2022.

  William Brangham is back now, and reporting this week on how two different cities are handling these new arrivals. He begins tonight in New York.

• William Brangham:

  It's a modern-day Ellis Island, 19 stories tall in Midtown Manhattan.

  The once grand Roosevelt Hotel is now the first stop for many newly arrived migrants to New York City.

  Dr. Ted Long, Senior Vice President of Ambulatory Care, New York City Health + Hospitals: There will be more than 500 asylum seekers that will enter those doors today.

• William Brangham:

  Dr. Ted Long is an executive with the city's hospital system, which runs the arrival center and many of the city's shelters.

  COVID shuttered the Roosevelt, but since opening to migrants last spring, more than 85,000 have filed through here.

• Dr. Ted Long:

  We have learned a lot about the specific needs of asylum seekers. Every part of the arrival center, we're bringing up front how we can help you to address those needs.

• William Brangham:

  After registering, asylum seekers move to a former ballroom for health screenings and optional vaccinations.

  Elsewhere, there's information about immigration and work laws. And under a painting of band leader Guy Lombardo, who rang in New Year's Eve here for decades, migrants are offered passage to somewhere new.

• Dr. Ted Long:

  If were able to identify friends or family that you want to go to, we will buy you a ticket anywhere in the world.

• William Brangham:

  Long says up to a quarter of those who arrive in New York City choose to leave within 24 hours. But for those that stay, housing is the biggest single support the city provides.

  One of the reasons New York has been such a magnet for migrants is that this city has a longstanding tradition of offering shelter to anyone who requires it. But now, after their after 40 years, that commitment may be in jeopardy.

  Over the last 20 months, the shelter system in New York City has basically doubled. More than 67,000 migrants are now housed in shelters, massive temporary tent camps, and hotels.

  That includes people like Dayana, an asylum seeker from Colombia who's being sheltered in a Bronx hotel with her husband and two children. She takes her 11-year-old son to public school in Manhattan, an almost hour-long commute on two subways, early enough so he can eat the free breakfast school provides.

• Dayana, Asylum Seeker (through interpreter):

  The school has been a great help to us. They have been like angels who've swooped down from the sky.

• William Brangham:

  They fled home in 2022, after she says her husband received death threats because of his work as a community organizer. She says the school is a rare source of stability.

• Dayana (through interpreter):

  I don't want to continue disrupting their lives. The journey from Colombia to here has already been very tough on them.

• William Brangham:

  Providing all this support has not been cheap. City officials estimate this current migrant influx will cost more than $12 billion over three years.

  In November, Democratic Mayor Eric Adams announced budget cuts, and warned more were likely.

  Eric Adams (D), Mayor of New York: I don't have deportation powers. I don't have the power to turn buses around. I don't have the power to say were not going to give you some form of housing. I don't have any of that power.

  And all I have the power to do is to balance the budget.

• Protester:

  Immigrants are not safe here.

• William Brangham:

  In some neighborhoods, migrants have been met with outright hostility.

• Jimmy Gill, Staten Island, New York, Resident:

  They don't belong here on Staten Island. They definitely don't belong here in this neighborhood.

• William Brangham:

  Last week, Adams started requiring buses that are transporting migrants, many sent from Texas, to give advance notice of their arrivals.

  Like other mayors, Adams blames the federal government for not doing enough, but is also critical of border state officials like Republican Governor Greg Abbott of Texas.

• Eric Adams:

  This is a national problem. This has only been exacerbated by Governor Abbott's cruel, inhumane politics.

• Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX):

  The lead importer of migrants to New York is not Texas. It's Joe Biden.

• William Brangham:

  Amid record numbers of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexican border, Governor Abbott is unapologetic about transporting some people north.

• Gov. Greg Abbott:

  What you're dealing with in New York is a tiny fraction of what is happening every single day in the state of Texas. It's a crisis. It is chaotic. And it must stop.

• Brad Lander, New York City Comptroller:

  I don't actually consider it a crisis. To me, this is the next wave of people becoming New Yorkers.

• William Brangham:

  Brad Lander is the city's comptroller, an elected position that's the chief financial and accountability officer.

• Brad Lander:

  New York City lost 400,000 people during the pandemic.

• William Brangham:

  People moving away.

• Brad Lander:

  People move out. That's just the history of New York City. It is a short-term cost, and we need more help than we're getting from Washington especially and from Albany. But it's not the primary driver in the budget gaps.

• William Brangham:

  Given the level of services that you all are offering, how long can New York City keep doing this at this capacity?

• Dr. Ted Long:

  Well, one of the big problems we have in New York City is that we are out of space. Everybody that you see here sitting in these chairs now, we don't have a placement for them in the New York City system yet.

  We need the resources to keep up with the lifesaving care that we offer to people every day here.

• William Brangham:

  But New York City is also trying to change a key part of its support for migrants. This fall, officials asked a court for more flexibility when it comes to the city's so-called right-to-shelter rule.

  Officials argued that 1981 rule governing the homeless is — quote — "outmoded and cumbersome" in the face of the present migrant crisis.

• Brad Lander:

  It is a struggle for the city to find new hotels and new shelter. But it's a mistake to respond to that challenge by trying to end the right to shelter. Folks will wind up sleeping on the street, instead of in shelter. And for families especially — I mean, this is what really breaks my heart.

• William Brangham:

  Starting as soon as this week, the city will enforce a time limit for families, making those like Dayana's reapply for shelter after 60 days, potentially moving them to any shelter in the city and even further from her kids' school.

• Dayana (through interpreter):

  We don't want to disrupt anything else for them. We as adults try to make everything seem OK. We put on a brave face and try not to make things seem too negative.

• William Brangham:

  With no agreement in Congress around border policies or additional funding, asylum seekers like Dayana and the cities supporting them remain in limbo.

  For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm William Brangham in New York.

• Amna Nawaz:

  And, tomorrow, William continues his reporting from Chicago, where Texas officials have been flying migrants in recent days.

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