New York City has started evicting people in migrant shelters as part of a new rule that limits some adult asylum-seekers to a month in the system before they must find a place of their own, Patch reported.
Migrants without young children must now move out of the hotels, tent complexes, and other shelter facilities run by the city and find other housing after 30 days — or 60 days for those aged 18-23 — unless they provide proof of "extenuating circumstances" and are granted an exemption.
As of late Wednesday, 192 migrants had applied for an extension after hitting their limit, and 118 had been approved, Mayor Eric Adams' office said. Thousands more are expected to receive eviction notices in the coming months.
Adams, a Democrat, on Tuesday pushed back at critics who have called the city's increasingly restrictive migrant shelter rules inhumane and haphazardly rolled out, saying the city simply can't keep housing migrants indefinitely.
New York City has provided temporary housing to nearly 200,000 migrants since the spring of 2022, with more than a thousand new arrivals coming to the city each week, he noted.
"People said it's inhumane to put people out during the wintertime, so now they say it's inhumane to do it in the summertime," he said. "There's no good time. There's no good time."
New York City has become a focal point in the national debate on illegal immigration as asylum-seekers have passed through the city since 2022, hampering budgets.
According to March data from city hall, New York was spending $387 per day to put up one migrant household in taxpayer-funded shelters.
Immigrant rights and homeless advocates say they're closely monitoring the eviction process, which impacts some 15,000 migrant adults. The city shelter system currently houses about 65,000 migrants, but many of those are families with children.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.