200 migrants could be first to reapply for shelter in NYC under strict new rules: Adams administration

Migrants who want to stay in city shelters past their allotted time will be subject to strict new guidelines starting next week.

Some 200 single asylum seekers whose 30-day shelter stays expired this week are expected to be among the first to reapply for housing — and will need to provide “extenuating circumstances” for why they should be granted a bed for another 30 days, city officials said Friday.

“While these changes will require some adaptation, we are confident that they will help migrants progress to the next stage of their journeys, reduce the significant strain on our shelter system and enable us to continue providing essential services to all New Yorkers,” Mayor Eric Adams’ chief of staff, Camille Joseph Varlack, told reporters Friday morning.

The Adams administration argues the newly granted powers, giving the city emergency exemption from the Big Apple’s “right to shelter” mandate, will motivate migrants to move on from the overwhelmed shelter system.

“Our shelter system was never intended to be a permanent landing place for people,” Varlack said, adding, “And our goal in a universe of limited resources is to prioritize our resources to support the most vulnerable families with children and the newest new arrivals.”

The new rules are part of a deal struck in March following a drawn-out legal fight over the decades-old “right to shelter” mandate, which forces the city to provide a bed to anyone who wants one.