Fewer than half of the migrants who have been forced to reapply for housing after the city’s new 60-day limit have returned to the Big Apple’s shelter system, officials said Tuesday.
It was unclear the actual tally of asylum seekers who have left the city’s care as a result of the new mandates — which required single adults to reapply for a home every two months — but the percentage appears to show the limits are helping make space in the shelter system.
“It looks like about less than 50% of the people are coming back after those time limits but we’ll know more about those in the coming days and we will give you that information,” Deputy Mayor Anne Williams-Isom told reporters during the mayor’s weekly off-topic presser.
Under the new rules, asylum seekers who reach the city’s shelter time limit are required to leave their shelter where they are living and return to the Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown to go through the reapplication process.
The first wave of two-month notices expired in mid-September when the city cut the length of stay in half to 30 days for single asylum seekers.
“We really want to make sure that we’re making room at the front door, ” Williams-Isom added Tuesday. “So giving people a time limit so that they can get connected to family members and other opportunities, we think is the tools that we have.”
“I can’t do a statewide decompression strategy because I’m not a governor. I’m not the president so I can’t do a federal declaration,” she added.
Maria Ana, a 24-year-old who fled Venezuela, told The Post said she was told of the rule when she got here and has been trying to save money before the limit expired.
“I don’t know if I can even get ahead in the time I have to do it in, I don’t have a job,” said Ana, who is a stylist. “I’m looking for options. I try to get money any way I can.”
“Yes, I’m worried…but I try to stay calm. I’m not going to get anywhere with stressing.”
But Barbara, 25, another Venezuelan refugee, said the limit was worrying her.
“Right now they are forcing people to leave so you have to look for a job without a work permit to rent a place because it becomes difficult for you,” she said.
“I’m afraid of working illegally because it might mess up my chance of getting asylum but I have no choice.”
The city has currently nearly 65,000 migrants in its care with almost 4,000 arriving each recent week.
The Adams administration created time limits on shelter stays over the last few months as part of their effort to free up space in the overwhelmed shelter system.
The Adams administration ramped up their efforts again on Monday, creating a 60-day rule for migrants living in the city shelter system with kids .
Mayor Eric Adams vowed Tuesday that will not have to relocate schools if they are forced to leave the shelters under the new rule.
The Big Apple is mandated to provide housing for anyone who needs it as part of a decades-old rule, also known as the right to shelter.
