A Manhattan judge overseeing the city’s right-to-shelter case recused herself from the matter Tuesday over concerns about her impartiality — a move that came as lawyers for Mayor Adams forged ahead with a push to suspend the decades-old shelter mandate amid a constant influx of migrants into New York.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Erika Edwards announced her recusal from the case in a brief hearing after a closed-door discussion in her chambers between lawyers representing Adams, Gov. Hochul’s administration and the Legal Aid Society, which is challenging the mayor’s request to roll back right to shelter on behalf of the Coalition for the Homeless.
Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Daily News
Hundreds of migrants are seen sleeping outside the Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown Manhattan early Monday July 31, 2023. Asylum seekers are camping outside the Roosevelt Hotel as the Manhattan relief center is at capacity. (Photo by: Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Daily News)
Asked after the proceeding why Edwards opted for recusal, Legal Aid Society lawyer Josh Goldfein, who attended the private conference, said it had to do with personal concerns she had about the case.
“The judge felt that she could not be impartial in this case, and we have to take her at her word,” Goldfein told reporters outside the courthouse. He declined to elaborate.
It was not immediately clear which judge will replace Edwards in overseeing the case.
Before recusing herself, Edwards ordered Adams’ lawyers to file a new letter to the court by Oct. 3 spelling out exactly why the mayor sees a need to lift the right to shelter, which was established via a 1981 consent decree and requires the city to provide a shelter bed to anyone who needs it.
In an initial letter in May, lawyers for Adams asked permission from the court to be able to suspend right to shelter whenever the city “lacks the resources and capacity to establish and maintain sufficient shelter sites.” The attorneys said at the time that the impetus for seeking the sweeping suspension was the city’s struggle to find shelter space to house the tens of thousands of mostly Latin American migrants who have arrived since last year.
Luiz C. Ribeiro/for New York Daily News
New York City Mayor Eric Adams
Since that May letter, Adams and his advisers have shifted gears and advocated mostly for tailoring a potential suspension in such a way that it would only impact migrants, while homeless New Yorkers would still retain their right to shelter. The administration has also curtailed newly-arrived migrants’ access to shelter, including by recently limiting the time they can consecutively stay in a shelter to 30 days.
It’s unclear exactly how the Adams lawyers plan to modify their suspension request. A spokeswoman for Adams did not immediately return a request for comment after the court proceeding.
Regardless of how the Adams administration tweaks its request, the road to a potential right-to-shelter rollback is long.
Before such a request can be formally considered by a court, a judge must give the mayor’s administration permission to file an official motion on the matter. The Adams administration has not yet asked for that go-ahead.
But in his remarks after Tuesday’s hearing, Goldfein said he expects the administration to request a motion “to be relieved of the right to shelter in some way.”
Goldfein argued it’s outrageous for the mayor to proceed with his effort to undo right to shelter just as state and federal partners are beginning to provide help for the city, including President Biden’s recent decision to offer Venezuelan migrants the chance to secure fast-tracked work permits via a so-called Temporary Protected Status designation.
“It doesn’t make sense at this moment for the city to ask to be relieved of its obligations to protect people from dying on the streets of New York,” he said.
Homeless advocates have for months worried that Adams’ attempts to peel back right to shelter could set a problematic precedent and allow the city to skirt its legal obligations.
Adams has dismissed those laments and argued it’s unrealistic for his administration to comply with right-to-shelter rules at a time when there are more than 110,000 people in city shelters and emergency housing facilities, a record. More than 60,000 of those sheltered individuals are migrants who came to the U.S. in hopes of seeking asylum.
Local Republican lawmakers have lauded Adams for seeking to water down the city’s right-to-shelter, including Brooklyn Councilwoman Inna Vernikov, who has attended the past two right-to-shelter hearings.
“I’ll be attending court to support @NYCMayor on this move, even though I won’t be allowed into chambers,” Vernikov tweeted ahead of Tuesday’s proceeding.
