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City Hall plans to appeal decision to vacate Staten Island shelter
By
Catalina Gonella
Published Sep 26, 2023
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Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images
By
Catalina Gonella
Published Sep 26, 2023
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City Hall has plans to appeal a judge's Tuesday decision that ruled the city must stop using a former Catholic private school on Staten Island as a migrant shelter.
In his decision, Judge Wayne Ozzi ordered the city to remove those already housed at St. John’s Villa Academy, bringing into question the existence of New York City’s right to shelter — a legal standard that requires the city to provide shelter to anyone in need based on a 1981 consent decree. Kayla Mamelak, a spokesperson for the mayor, said the ruling threatened the city’s ability to continue to address the crisis.
“We are taking steps to immediately appeal this ruling, which we believe is incorrect in key respects and which threatens to disrupt efforts to manage this national humanitarian crisis,” Mamelak said. “Instances like this underscore the urgent need for a broader state and national solution, as we've emphasized repeatedly."
The appeal, which was slated to be filed on Tuesday, would freeze the order. No one will be removed from the facility, according to the mayor’s office. It was the second time Ozzi ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in the case.
“The 1981 consent decree is intended to address a problem as different from today's dilemma as night and day. It is an anachronistic relic from the past, an altruistic plan to assist local "Bowery derelicts,” Ozzi wrote in the latest decision. “This Court concludes that it does not create a "right to shelter," as that phrase has been colloquially used.”
The plaintiffs in the case include Staten Island resident Scott Heckert, who lives across the street from the school, Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella and representative Nicole Malliotakis.
More than 60,000 migrants are currently in the city’s care.
The site was just one of many to spark contentious demonstrations throughout the city, with Staten Island residents congregating there to protest the city housing migrants there.
Josh Goldfein, staff attorney with the Homeless Rights Project at The Legal Aid Society, said the decision was unlawful.
“This decision is not rooted in law and ignores existing emergency and executive orders, court decrees, and New York’s constitutional requirement to provide shelter to all who seek it,” Goldfein said.
Meanwhile, the city is already asking a Manhattan judge to exempt newly arrived migrants from the city’s right-to-shelter mandate.
Tagged
new york city
Asylum Seekers
housing
staten island
Politics
Catalina Gonella
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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