The Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless are condemning the City’s reported plan to create tent cities for recent asylum seekers and other new arrivals.

“Passing out tents as winter approaches is not only a mockery of the City’s legal and moral obligation to provide safe shelter to people without homes, but it will put lives in danger,” reads a statement from the organizations. “People freezing to death on the streets is the exact nightmare that the Right to Shelter was designed to prevent.”

“Make no mistake, when the Mayor and Governor talk about rolling back the Right to Shelter, this is what they mean: relegating desperate people – long-time New Yorkers and newcomers alike – to sleeping on sidewalks, in parks, and in other public spaces across the city, exposed to the elements,” the statement continues.

“There is simply no need for the Mayor to throw in the towel like this when lives are at stake and Governor Hochul’s plan to resettle new arrivals throughout New York State is finally starting to take shape,” the statement concludes. “We have repeatedly put forward suggestions for how to meet these challenges that the Mayor and Governor must fully embrace if we are to ensure that new arrivals and homeless New Yorkers are adequately protected.”