This week’s throngs at the Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown Manhattan could have been common in any one of the many American cities attempting to control the problem of being homeless: hundreds of individuals sobbing on sidewalks and sleeping on flat cardboard containers day and night.
Migrants are searching for beds in the city’s overcrowded shelter system, which was unique for New York City. And it prompted a challenging query: Will this bring in a new normal?
Due to a special legal arrangement that mandates the city to offer a bed for everyone who seeks one, New York has generally escaped the sorts of massive settlements that are more typical in places on the West Coast. No other major American city has the same “right to shelter” requirement.
But what occurs if the town that is required to house everybody runs out of places to live?
There is no longer room for immigrants, said Mayor Eric Adams last week in threatening voices.