Statement by New York City Comptroller Brad Lander on City Hall Moving to Suspend Right to Shelter

“For four decades, the right to shelter has made New York City a place where our homeless neighbors still have a roof over their heads, rather than sleeping on the streets by the tens of thousands. We should not change that. City Hall’s request, if granted, would allow the City to deny shelter not only to new arrivals seeking asylum under the torch of the Statue of Liberty, but also to lifelong New Yorkers, including people with disabilities, in desperate need of shelter.

“Our audit of the City’s homeless sweeps earlier this year showed that the City’s approach to street homelessness is often cruel and ineffective. Rather than eroding our social safety net, the City and State should be doing everything we possibly can to help people move off the street, out of shelter, and into permanent housing. That means moving quickly to scale up legal and case management services to help recent arrivals apply for asylum, TPS and work authorization. And it means the State should immediately pass and implement the widely supported Housing Access Voucher Program, that would help thousands of families exit the shelter system.

“Pushing thousands of people to sleep on the street is neither compassionate nor sound policy.”

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