A Staten Island judge ordered New York City to stop housing migrants inside schools, citing the use of the site of a former Catholic school being transformed into a 300-person shelter, criticizing the "Right to Shelter."
Judge Wayne Ozzi also called the Big Apple's policy a "relic from the past" as he issued a preliminary injunction to block the city from filling the former St. John Villa Academy with asylum seekers. However, it remains unclear whether the facility would be forced to close.
NYC's Right to Shelter
Last month, NYC Mayor Eric Adam's administration convinced the state Appellate Division to keep the Staten Island shelter open hours after the same judge ordered it to be shut down in a previous order.
Immediately, the city's officials committed to appealing the Tuesday decision as a representative for Adams, saying that the order threatens to disrupt efforts to manage the current national humanitarian crisis.
In the meantime, the State Island jurist also gave harsh words regarding the city's Right to Shelter mandate. That particular policy has, since 1981, required the five boroughs to provide housing to anyone who applies for it, as per the New York Post.
The judge argued that the more than four-decade-old mandate is "intended to address a problem as different from today's dilemma as night and day." He added that the consent decree was entered into to address a specific problem that existed at the time.
Ozzi said that this was to provide housing for unfortunate New Yorkers who needed shelter, adding that no one can argue that, at the time, there was a situation of the magnitude that existed today. He noted that this was a virtual flood of migrant asylum seekers whose numbers are capable of filling two Yankee Stadiums and equate to one-fifth of the population of Staten Island.
The judge's ruling comes two weeks after lawyers representing Staten Island local Scott Herkert, who is seeking a court order to close down the site, argued during a hearing that the shelter was creating an "unreasonable public nuisance." He also argued that he has been smelling raw sewage from the site at his home next door.
Housing Migrants
In a statement, Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella said that they were pleased with the ruling and noted that they would continue to fight if needed. According to CBS News, she argued that common sense prevailed when Ozzi issued the injunction.
Ozzi's ruling also came after several weeks of angry protests as residents of Staten Island opposed to the shelter said that it simply does not belong in a residential neighborhood across from a girl's school.
On the other hand, a staff attorney for the Legal Aid Society, which was the one that filed the litigation that led to the "Right to Shelter," Joshua Goldfein, said that the decision is wrong on the law, adding that they do not expect it to stand.
Ozzi's decision could complicate the situation in the city as various legal cases support either side of the argument, said the New York Times.
