CONTACT: Mariah McGough, mariah@vocal-ny.org 

FIGHT IS ON FOR RIGHT TO SHELTER: VOCAL-NY CALLS FOR COURTS TO REJECT MAYOR ADAMS LEGAL CHALLENGE 

NEW YORK — Following the release of the Adams Administration’s abhorrent legal challenge to New York City’s Right to Shelter mandate, VOCAL-NY released the following statement, attributable to Adolfo Abreu, VOCAL-NY’s Housing Campaigns Director:

“Governor Hochul and Mayor Adams mismanagement of New York will have devastating consequences long after they are gone. To attempt to roll back Right to Shelter goes against everything homeless advocates have fought for, and the guaranteed human right to shelter when there’s nowhere else to go. 

We need leadership that stops fighting, resisting, gaslighting, lying, and ignoring homelessness prevention initiatives that have broad support from New Yorkers. True leadership would ground their policies in permanently rehousing all New Yorkers experiencing homelessness. Our elected leaders must abandon policies, budgets, and initiatives that criminalize homelessness, and shift to policies of services and care. 

Now is not the time to roll back protections for people experiencing homelessness. If anything, our state housing crisis shows we need the right to shelter in every city.”

BACKGROUND:

Mayor Adams and Governor Hochul’s mismanagement of this crisis and denial of life-saving solutions have led to the following: 

• 100,000 New Yorkers are now residing in shelters, 
• Street homelessness is up to 18%, 
• Tens of thousands of vacant apartments and 2,646 vacant supportive housing units
• 3 New Yorkers secured housing out of the thousands impacted by Mayor Adams’ Homeless Sweeps 

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