Ever since the city announced they would be giving beds to homeless migrants by their issued numbers, many have been lined up outside of the city office in the East Village in Manhattan, waiting for theirs’ to be called.
Many of those waiting outside of the office are single men who have come up against New York City’s 30-day limit for single adults on stays at any homeless shelter. After the 30 days, anyone who wants to stay in the shelter system for longer must reapply. Yet, the city doesn’t have enough beds to offer, so each person trying to get new shelter must now take a number at the city office and wait.
Usually, New York City has a distinctive “right to shelter” law that requires the city to provide a bed to every homeless person who asks for one. However, in recent weeks, the increasing number of migrants has meant that this guarantee no longer exists.
On Monday, the Legal Aid Society, which monitors the city’s compliance with the right-to-shelter mandate, reported that they had been told by the city that on any given night, 800 to 1,000 migrants are left on the waiting list, and the average wait for a bed is more than eight days. City officials have declined to confirm or refute the numbers cited by Legal Aid.
As of Tuesday, the city had reached people with numbers into the 14,000s, according to several migrants who were waiting by the city office. Those with higher numbers were offered only a spot on the floor or a chair at one of the handful of waiting centers across the five boroughs.
All the while, the number of migrants waiting for beds is continuously growing, along with the city’s expansive homeless population, as the number of non-migrants in the city’s main shelter system reportedly grew by 16% in the last year. Prior to the migrant wait list going into effect, the number of people on the city’s homeless-outreach list was up 30% last September, compared with September 2022.
As the Winter weather gets progressively bitter, the quality of life for many homeless people, migrants and non-migrants alike, is considerably rough- with last week having the lowest temperatures the city has seen in nearly five years.
On Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, the city conducted the Homeless Outreach Population Estimate or HOPE, which is an annual federally mandated tally of people sleeping in the streets and subways. Last year’s approximation was just over 4,000 people, which was the highest count in nearly twenty years. This year’s estimate will probably include some of the migrants who have been waiting for the city to offer them a bed and shelter.
“We usually collect bottles around the stations from around 5 till 11 at night and then usually just sleep on the trains- it’s somewhere warm,” said Kevin Benitez Caicedo, 28, who arrived in New York from Ecuador in December and lost his shelter bed last week.
Since last year, the city has been trying to weaken the shelter guarantee in court, and they are currently in mediation with the Legal Aid Society, which has been pressuring the city to offer beds to every migrant. The judge of the case has not yet ordered the city to provide beds for those who are waiting.
Currently, there are nearly 70,000 homeless migrants seeking shelter in the city.
