NYC Comptroller’s Investigation Finds Adams Administration Implemented the 60-Day Shelter Limit in Haphazard, Ineffective Manner

 

Investigators found inadequate written policies, training, and notices; Despite promises, the City provides limited case management services that do little to help families achieve self-sufficiency

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander released his office’s investigation into the Adams Administration’s implementation of its 60-day shelter limit for asylum-seeking families. As a result of the rule, the City has issued 60-day notices to 10,229 families with children—affecting 19,497 adults and 18,149 children—as of April 28.

The investigation found that the policy was haphazardly implemented, and that notices to families, training for staff, and written guidelines were all inadequate. For example, despite an announcement from City Hall that pregnant women in their last trimester and families with newborns would be exempted, no written policy to that effect was ever given to staff or contractors. Despite promises of “intensive case management” to assist families, investigators found that the City provides very limited case management services that do little to help asylum-seeking families achieve self-sufficiency. And the City specifically discriminated against families with elementary-school aged children in shelter placements, making it more likely their children’s schooling would be disrupted.

“Back in January, the Adams Administration enacted a cruel policy of evicting families from shelter every 60 days with the empty promise of intensive case management—as a result, City Hall has subjected over 37,000 people to repetitive screenings for shelter alternatives, disrupted families’ efforts to obtain work authorization and legal status, and uprooted children from the schools where they made connections,” said Comptroller Brad Lander. “Beyond the cruelty of the policy, our investigation found significant management flaws in how City Hall is administering these evictions and how poorly they are tracking outcomes. Our City can do so much better.”

Comptroller Lander announced the investigation on the first day that families were evicted and were told to re-apply for shelter in Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers (HERRCs). The Comptroller’s office investigation found:

• The City implemented the 60-day rule in a haphazard manner without adequate policies—such as exemptions for third trimester pregnancies and newborns or mail transfers—or training in place for agency staff;
• 60-day notices failed to provide families with critical information about opportunities to seek exemption or reasonable accommodation;
• Despite promises of “intensive case management” for every family, the City provides limited case management services that do little to help families achieve self-sufficiency;
• The 60-day rule undermined new arrivals’ ability to obtain work authorization and stable employment;
• Administrators specifically denied families with elementary school-aged children placement in Department of Homeless Services (DHS) shelters upon re-intake, subjecting them to more frequent moves that are detrimental to children’s learning;
• The City is not tracking any outcomes regarding families’ housing placements; efforts to obtain work authorization, legal status, or employment; or pathway to self-sufficiency.

In a January 9th letter sent to City Hall that initiated the investigation, Comptroller Lander requested information about “the protocols City agencies will use to implement” the 60-day shelter limit and reassignment and inquired about “the potentially harmful impacts of the policy on families seeking asylum, especially on children who may be displaced from their public school as a result of being transferred to a shelter far from their school.”

In a letter response dated February 5, the Mayor stated that “Shelter time limits, paired with intensive case management, are designed to help more households achieve self-sufficiency, find stable housing arrangements, and exit from the shelter system.”

Despite that promise, the Comptroller’s investigation into the 60-day rule found that the promise of intensive case management was hollow. The documents implementing the policy disclose a single-minded focus on avoiding the City’s legal obligations to provide shelter. While the rule has contributed to a reduction in the shelter population, it also served to destabilize families with children and increase barriers to work authorization and legal status.

The investigation report recommends:

• The City should end the 60-day rule. Instead, the City should implement a policy that genuinely coordinates temporary shelter, legal assistance toward immigration status and work authorization, workforce development that enables people to obtain work, and case management that enables people to achieve self-sufficiency. The program that the City entered into last week with Jewish Families Services of Western New York, to replace the failed DocGo contract for services to asylum-seekers relocated upstate, is one model for such a program.
• While the City continues to implement the 60-day rule, administrators must immediately correct critical shortcomings in the implementation of the policy, including writing clear policies and procedures, amending the 60-day notice to add critical missing information, providing the “intensive case management” as promised, and allowing families with elementary school-aged children to be placed in DHS shelters upon re-intake.
• To achieve cost savings, the City must move away from emergency procurement to competitive bidding among qualified service providers, as the Comptroller’s Office has repeatedly recommended. Read the Comptroller’s report: Rethinking Emergency Procurement.
• The City should track and evaluate program effectiveness, including overall cost savings, and outcomes for families toward immigration status, work authorization, housing stability, and self-sufficiency.

Lander announced these finding and recommendations alongside a coalition of immigrant advocates, elected officials, shelter providers, and homeless rights organizations in front of the Row Hotel, where the first eviction notices took place in January.

Read the investigation here.

“From the start, the Council has been clear that the Administration’s 60-day shelter limit policy would be counterproductive and destabilizing for our new arrivals, and to our goal of helping them achieve self-sufficiency,” said Council Speaker Adrienne Adams. “As the policy has impacted increasing numbers of children and families, more and more students have had disrupted schooling as families are needlessly moved from location to location. This and the inhumane conditions at the Hall Street Complex in Brooklyn are among the many examples of why our city must improve its collaboration and planning with stakeholders to meet the needs of asylum seekers, longtime New Yorkers, and communities. We must support those seeking shelter and provide an opportunity for new arrivals to contribute to our economy. I thank Comptroller Lander’s office for this investigation, the findings of which can help guide the Administration towards more effective policy solutions that prioritize the well-being of everyone in our city.”