What NY can do for immigrants

Each successive wave of new immigrants arriving in the city has brought with them new energy, labor, and creativity to drive our dynamic local economy in new directions, and today’s new arrivals share that same potential. New York City has thrived for centuries by welcoming immigrants, and we are honored to continue that tradition by providing shelter and services to those arriving here from Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti, Ukraine, Senegal, and other countries experiencing war and violence.

But these new and aspiring New Yorkers are both legally prohibited from working to provide for themselves and legally entitled to city-provided shelter. This unique challenge facing the city is driven in part by the broken federal immigration system and in part by the state Constitution’s commitment to provide a right to shelter. Combined with an acute housing crisis, the pandemic, stagnant wages, and an uncertain economy already driving New Yorkers into overcrowded shelters with a myriad of obstacles to permanent affordable housing, we have a perfect storm that is stretching the capacity of the City of New York.

Prior to the arrival of the first large groups of asylum seekers, there were already more than 50,000 individuals in city shelters. In less than a year since then, almost 50,000 asylum seekers have gone through the city’s shelter system and more than 30,500 asylum seekers are currently housed by the city. The city is on pace to spend approximately $4 billion sheltering these asylum seekers over a two-year period.

The responsibility to provide a safe haven for those seeking asylum is a national obligation. And the duty to provide shelter to those who need it is grounded in the New York State Constitution (these “right to shelter” protections should be clarified to apply minimum standards to the new network of shelters for asylum-seekers known as HERRCs as our legislation proposes). Therefore, both the federal government and the state government must bear their share of the costs of providing shelter and services to these newest New Yorkers until they can establish lives, homes, and jobs for themselves here.

But even with the federal and state government stepping up with substantial funding, New York City’s current approach is beyond what we can reasonably continue without meaningful changes.

The average stay in the shelter system stretched to exceed 500 days even before the current crisis, an unacceptable and unsustainable situation. We must work together much more aggressively to help people in our shelters, not only asylum seekers but tens of thousands of New Yorkers who have long been in the shelter system and sought services, to move out into permanent housing, while scaling up assistance to newly arrived asylum seekers to help them on a pathway to economic stability.

A two pronged approach will enable the city to help residents gain stability, free up needed space in overcrowded city shelters, and help new arrivals begin to contribute to the vitality of the city.

For asylum-seekers, that means an all-hands effort to help them understand their options, file asylum applications, obtain work authorizations, and find jobs. Albany could help enormously in this effort by passing the Access to Representation Act, which would ensure a right to counsel for all immigrants facing deportation. But even before that, mobilizing and training large numbers of volunteers to assist with pro se applications to help asylum seekers begin the process of applying for legal status and work authorization is urgently needed.

For everyone in the shelter system, that means rapidly expanding pathways to permanent housing through expanding rental assistance amounts and access and enforcing source-of-income discrimination. The state could help in this effort by increasing the shelter allowance from its paltry level of $215 per month for a single adult, and by passing the Housing Assistance Voucher Program (HAVP) and ensuring that a meaningful share of the vouchers go to homeless families.

Common sense legislation in the City Council that would eliminate barriers to receiving CityFHEPS rental assistance, including no longer requiring families to live in shelter as a precondition to receiving a voucher and ensuring households at risk of eviction can receive assistance before they are brought to Housing Court, should be passed. Likewise, a state bill would allow families and individuals, regardless of immigration status, to be eligible for CityFHEPS assistance.

New York is a city built on hope and opportunity. It is inextricable from our identity and essential to our future. But we need to take steps now to ensure that every New Yorker, whether they have been living here for generations or just arrived yesterday, has a path to living with dignity and achieving their dreams.

Lander is city comptroller. Williams is city public advocate. Hanif chairs the City Council Immigration Committee.