As asylum seekers continue to arrive in New York City at a rapid rate, Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams is elevating the experiences and urgent needs of newly arriving New Yorkers, and the responsibilities of city, state, and federal government to meet those needs. In a statement prepared for a Friday City Council hearing of the Committee on Immigration, he stressed the importance of protecting the right to shelter in an overburdened and underresourced system.
"Recently, I made a visit to a shelter in Hollis, Queens, where regrettably an asylum seeker took her own life. We found out that the shelter was not meant nor prepared to house asylum seekers and was severely understaffed, with 1 worker per 100 residents, with a maximum capacity of 500 residents..." reported Public Advocate Williams. He later argued that "Shelters would not be so under strain if the backlog and wait times for housing vouchers were expedited. Some individuals that currently reside in shelters have been living there for years. Affordable and supportive housing is one pathway to simultaneously transition them from homelessness to a permanent housing situation and open capacity at shelters."
He pointed to his recent report with the Committee to End Homelessness, which recommends expanding CityFHEPS eligibility to allow people who work and earn up to 50 percent of the city’s Area Median Income to qualify and waiving the work requirement for those not employed but on public assistance to qualify. He further pushed for passage of his Homeless Bill of Rights as a means of defining and protecting key standards for asylum seekers.
He also emphasized the importance of providing families with quality educational services, saying "According to recent Department of Homeless Services figures, of the 11,800 asylum seekers in the DHS system, approximately 8,000 are families with children. Enrolling these children in school is imperative in facilitating the transition post-migration as well as providing a safer space and environment where the children have access to hot meals...The Department of Education must ensure that their processes for placing asylum seeker children is as transparent as possible and takes into consideration the transient status of the children and their families in regards to housing and the immigration system."
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