Mayor Eric Adams’ plan to show tough love to migrants appears to be working — with 20% of asylum seekers returning to the Big Apple’s overburdened shelter system after being given a 30- or 60-day vacate notice, new City Hall figures show.
Of the roughly 4,800 migrants whose stay-limit notices expired as of Sunday, approximately 980 have reapplied to remain in the city-run shelter system, according to the data.
In total, about 13,500 asylum seekers have been issued 60-day notices and roughly 6,500 others have been handed 30-day notices since the limits were first introduced by the Adams administration last month.
The new data, first obtained by Politico, was evidence that slapping a time limit on migrant stays has been an effective move as the city scrambled to free up bed space in an already overwhelmed system, City Hall officials said.
“So far, we are seeing that the majority of asylum seekers that received 60/30-day notices have been able to secure alternative housing and take us up on the offer to help them reach their final, desired, destinations,” City Hall spokeswoman Kayla Mamelak said, referring to the bus and plane tickets given to some migrants.
“While these numbers are just a snapshot, and shelter numbers are always fluctuating, this shows that our system – 60/30-day notices combined with enhanced casework services – is working.”
Council minority leader Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island) was quick to rip the migrants in the wake of the fresh data.
“This proves that it’s always been just about getting free goodies when 80% of people can figure out their own situation when forced,” he said.
“These are folks who have been very resourceful in getting to New York in the first place and the idea that they would arrive here and suddenly become helpless was bizarre from the get-go.”
The city has been doling out the notices to single adult migrants in makeshift shelters scattered across the five boroughs since September in a bid to get a handle on the relentless influx of asylum seekers pouring in.
In total, about 13,500 asylum seekers have been issued 60-day notices and roughly 6,500 others have been handed 30-day notices by the city. Stephen Yang for NY Post
Darwin Jose, 36, recently reached his 30-day limit in a shelter in Long Island City and is reapplying. Stephen Yang for NY Post
Venezuelan migrants play a makeshift version of baseball outside the Long Island City shelter, where the stay-limit notices are causing confusion. Stephen Yang for NY PostThe policy was initially set for 60 days but was quickly chopped in half to limit adult migrants to a 30-day stay.
After reaching their deadlines, the migrants have to return to the city’s main intake center at the Roosevelt Hotel shelter in order to get back into the system.
Some migrants, however, told The Post Wednesday they knew of more asylum seekers who planned to reapply for a bed in the shelter system.
“Mostly everyone I know will be reapplying, it’s not that we want to stay at the shelter, but that we need to,” Venezuelan migrant, Neibel Suarez, told The Post outside the Roosevelt.
“We don’t have the accommodations to get an apartment here yet, this is what we have while we wait for work papers.”
Jonathan M, a fellow Venezuelan, added: “I know that men from other shelters have had to move after 60 days, but [mostly] everyone I’ve heard is reapplying to another shelter. There’s not that many options for us.”
The Adams administration revealed last week it would be forging ahead with controversial plans to force asylum seeker families with kids in emergency shelters to reapply for housing every 60 days.
The city has more than 65,000 asylum seekers in its care spread out at more than 200 shelter sites across Gotham, the latest City Hall figures show.
