A se­nior Caribbean im­mi­grant ad­vo­cate in New York has strong­ly con­demned the Er­ic Adams ad­min­is­tra­tion for re­port­ed­ly giv­ing 60-day evic­tion no­tices to asy­lum seek­ing fam­i­lies liv­ing in De­part­ment of Home­less Ser­vices shel­ters in New York.

Pres­i­dent and chief ex­ec­u­tive of­fi­cer of the New York Im­mi­gra­tion Coali­tion (NY­IC), Mu­rad Awawdeh, said that the re­port­ed 60-day evic­tion no­tices to around 30,000 par­ents and chil­dren are in ad­di­tion to the 20,000 par­ents and chil­dren liv­ing in Health and Hos­pi­tals Cor­po­ra­tion, and the De­part­ment of Hous­ing Preser­va­tion and De­vel­op­ment shel­ters who are al­ready sub­ject to evic­tion no­tices.

Awawdeh told the Caribbean Me­dia Cor­po­ra­tion (CMC) that while fam­i­lies are able to reap­ply for new shel­ter stays, they are not guar­an­teed to re­main in their cur­rent shel­ter and close to their chil­dren’s school.

“Every fam­i­ly de­serves a sta­ble liv­ing and learn­ing en­vi­ron­ment, whether they’ve been in New York for 30 days or 30 years. By sub­ject­ing even more fam­i­lies to ar­bi­trary 60-day shel­ter evic­tions, the city risks the health and well-be­ing of vul­ner­a­ble fam­i­lies, while do­ing lit­tle to solve our af­ford­abil­i­ty cri­sis.

“With lit­tle no­tice, par­ents will be scram­bling to se­cure a roof over their heads while their chil­dren will like­ly have their school­ing in­ter­rupt­ed, just as the new school year be­gins,” Awawdeh said, adding shel­ters have al­ways been de­signed to be a tem­po­rary stop-gap un­til fam­i­lies can get on their feet.

“It is long past time for May­or Adams to stop cre­at­ing bar­ri­ers to the suc­cess­ful in­te­gra­tion of im­mi­grant New York­ers in­to our lo­cal com­mu­ni­ties and economies. The City must end all shel­ter evic­tions and ex­pand el­i­gi­bil­i­ty of CityFHEPS hous­ing vouch­ers to all New York­ers re­gard­less of their im­mi­gra­tion sta­tus,”Awawdeh said.

Ear­li­er this month, NY­IC and Make the Road NY, an­oth­er im­mi­grant ad­vo­ca­cy group, strong­ly con­demned as “a dev­as­tat­ing blow” to Caribbean and oth­er im­mi­grants and low-in­come fam­i­lies a Man­hat­tan Supreme Court de­ci­sion strik­ing down a law­suit that would have com­pelled the Adams ad­min­is­tra­tion and the De­part­ment of Home­less Ser­vices (DHS) to im­ple­ment the CityFHEPS hous­ing vouch­er pack­age that was passed in May 2023 by the City Coun­cil.

The City Fight­ing Home­less­ness and Evic­tion Pre­ven­tion Sup­ple­ment (CityFHEPS) pro­gramme is a lo­cal hous­ing vouch­er for New York­ers on the brink of or ex­pe­ri­enc­ing home­less­ness.

On Au­gust 1, Man­hat­tan Supreme Court Judge Lyle Frank struck down the leg­is­la­tion to ex­pand el­i­gi­bil­i­ty for CityFHEPS hous­ing vouch­ers for low-in­come New York­ers fac­ing evic­tion or home­less­ness.

“Too many New York­ers are strug­gling to keep a roof over their heads as hous­ing costs con­tin­ue to rise. This ex­pan­sion of CityFHEPS vouch­ers would have been a life­line to vul­ner­a­ble fam­i­lies stuck in the shel­ter sys­tem and at risk of evic­tion,” Awawdeh said.

“By ex­pand­ing op­por­tu­ni­ties to live in safe, sta­ble hous­ing, we build a city where New York­ers can put down roots to in­vest and grow in their com­mu­ni­ties. This court de­ci­sion is a dev­as­tat­ing blow to low-in­come fam­i­lies, and any of us who may fall on hard times in the fu­ture,” he added.

NEW YORK, Au­gust 21, 2024, CMC

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