New York's Right to Shelter

Homes for the homeless. Who should uphold this right?

New York skyline (Dllu, 2021)

The Big Apple, contrary to its money-first image, recognises a ‘right to shelter’. What this means is that the city is obligated to house you if you require it, regardless of nationality, sex, or income. You could come from another state, or another continent. Regardless, someone has to find a place for you to sleep, wash, and take refuge from the elements.

A homeless shelter in New York (NY1, 2020)

According to Coalition for the Homeless (2023), 84,000 people are housed in New York’s main municipal shelters. This number includes local residents displaced by eviction, job loss, and domestic violence. It also includes a growing population of migrants seeking shelter. Since the spring of 2022, over 90,000 asylum seekers have entered New York City (NYC) (NPR, 2023).

NYC’s shelter system, having to serve both groups, is under strain. The city’s right to shelter stems from the idea that urban space should not be controlled solely by market forces. It seeks to undo displacement of the poor through gentrification, demolition, and eviction.

New York activists concerned for the homeless have used the law as an instrument of social justice. This is in line with Purcell (2014)’s observation that most ‘right to the city’ initiatives employ a liberal democratic framework. Purcell writes:

“This approach tends to think of political action in terms of legal strategies. And it conceives of rights as ends: when a legal right is secured, the struggle has come to a close.”

Contrary to Purcell’s ideas, securing of a right does not mean the struggle has ended or is thought to have ended. The US media has been hyper-aware that the struggle is still ongoing, with some outlets supporting the existing policy and others criticising it.

Queues forming outside the Roosevelt Hotel, now a shelter for migrants (Lach, 2023)

Purcell seems to support Lefebvre’s views of achieving rights through collective governance. Lefebvre’s ideas meet their limit in New York, a city of 8 million where collective decision-making is difficult. How many migrants to take in, where to place them, and how to integrate them are key questions to answer for NYC.

In the absence of collective decision-making, leaders decide on behalf of the people. New York Mayor Eric Adams has called for policies to “Let Them Work” so as to relieve the burden on shelters. New York's health authorities have paid colleges to house migrants in their dorms (Schermele, 2023). The city went to court with the state in an attempt to force governor Kathy Hochul to distribute migrants across New York state (Kramer, 2023). So far, relocation to other counties has not been successful. NYC sued half of New York's counties in June for refusing to house migrants. Counties say they don't have the resources to assist migrants humanely (AP, 2023).

Housing is one issue, integration is the next big hurdle. One challenge of cosmopolitanism is that communities living together may not mix. Socio-economic disparity and xenophobia tends to impede cross-cultural interaction. In Sandercock (2006)’s article on Mongrel Cities, he cites ethnographies of towns where white residents yearn for an ethnically undisturbed past. Ghettos may form out of minority communities unable to integrate into the dominant culture.

In short, housing and integration are costly. Upholding right to shelter depends on the willingness of surrounding areas to share these costs. If the state refuses to distribute migrants, the future of New York City’s right to shelter seems bleak.

References

AP. (2023, Jun 9). New York City sues nearly half the state's counties over ‘xenophobic’ bans on migrant relocations. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/new-york-city-sues-state-counties-xenophobic-migrant-bans-rcna88384

BBC. (2023, Sep 21). US offers almost 500,000 Venezuelans legal status. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66875264

Coalition for the Homeless. (n.d.). The Callahan Legacy: Callahan v. Carey and the Legal Right to Shelter.

https://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/our-programs/advocacy/legal-victories/the-callahan-legacy-callahan-v-carey-and-the-legal-right-to-shelter/

Dllu. (2021). View of Empire State Building from Rockefeller Center New York City. Wikimedia Commons. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:View_of_Empire_State_Building_from_Rockefeller_Center_New_York_City_dllu_(cropped).jpg

Purcell, M. (2014) Possible Worlds: Henri Lefebvre and the Right to the City, Journal of Urban Affairs, 36:1, 141-154, DOI: 10.1111/juaf.12034

Kramer, M. (2023, Aug 23). New York City's Right to Shelter battle heads to court. CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/new-york-citys-right-to-shelter-battle-heads-to-court/

Lach, E. (2023, Aug 4). A Pizza Shop in the middle of New York's migrant crisis. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-local-correspondents/a-pizza-shop-in-the-middle-of-new-yorks-migrant-crisis

NPR. (2023, Aug 1). NYC has seen an influx of 90,000 migrants and asylum-seekers since last spring. https://www.npr.org/2023/08/01/1191406532/nyc-has-seen-an-influx-of-90-000-migrants-and-asylum-seekers-since-last-spring

NY1 (2020). City Moving 6,000 Homeless New Yorkers From Shelters to Hotels by April 20. https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2020/04/11/city-moving-6-000-homeless-new-yorkers-from-shelters-to-hotels-by-april-20

Sandercock, L. (2006). Cosmopolitan Urbanism: A love song to our mongrel cities, In: Cosmopolitan Urbanism (edited by Joh Binnie, Julian Holloway, Steve Millington and Craig Young). Oxon: Routledge.

Schermele, J. (2023, Sep 24). NYC college, American Musical and Dramatic Academy, gets

millions to house migrants. USA Today. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2023/09/24/nyc-college-gets-millions-migrant-housing/70923538007/