The Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless, following a court-supervised mediation, announced a settlement with the City to end the government’s legal challenge to New York’s long-standing Right to Shelter for single adults, established under Callahan v. Carey in 1981.

The terms of the settlement are temporary, as they will only operate during the current humanitarian crisis and apply only to new arrivals who are single adults. The agreement preserves the underlying 1981 Right to Shelter consent decree and prevents the government from automatically denying shelter to any group of people if they have no other place to go. It guarantees the Right to Shelter for anyone – longer-term New Yorkers and new arrivals alike – while ensuring the City’s compliance with multiple court orders and existing law.

The settlement consists of a temporary crisis plan that takes effect immediately and lasts only until the current humanitarian crisis ends.  The underlying Right to Shelter consent decree has not been modified.

Among other provisions, the City is required to address the current influx by eliminating the backlog of new arrivals who have been forced to wait many days for another bed when reapplying for placement.

“This settlement safeguards the right to shelter in the consent decree, ensuring single adults’ – both long-time New Yorkers and new arrivals – access to shelter, basic necessities, and case management to transition from shelter to housing in the community. It also requires the City to immediately eliminate the use of waiting rooms as shelters where new arrivals have been sleeping on chairs and floors while they wait for shelter placement,” said Adriene Holder, Chief Attorney of the Civil Practice at The Legal Aid Society. “We will very closely monitor the City’s compliance with this settlement and we won’t hesitate to seek judicial intervention should there be noncompliance.”