FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: Less than 20 percent of migrants who received 30-and-60-day notices to vacate New York City shelters have returned to the city’s care, according to numbers shared exclusively with Playbook. About 13,500 migrants had received 60-day notices; 6,572 had received 30-day notices and 4,893 had their notices expire as of Sunday, according to City Hall data. That left approximately 980 people reapplying to live in shelters since the cutoff dates began last month. City Hall officials touted the lower rate of return as evidence that limiting the stays — combined with “enhanced casework services” — is working. The migrants are securing alternative housing and accepting the city’s help to reach their final, desired destinations, officials said, including plane tickets to wherever they want. Legal, housing and immigrant advocates have condemned the limiting of shelter stays as inhumane and short-sighted, but Deputy Mayor Anne Williams-Isom said the policies are necessary as a record 4,000 migrants arrive in the city each week. “This is why the 60-day and 30-day notices are so important,” she said at a news conference Tuesday. “Because that’s the only way I’m going to be able to make space in the system for people who come through the front door.” One week earlier, she had estimated the rate of migrants returning to the city’s care was less than 50 percent, though she acknowledged the numbers were still being crunched. Critics from advocacy groups to City Council members and other elected officials have slammed Mayor Eric Adams for an approach that could mean people being turned out onto the streets. They’ve pushed back especially hard on his new policy imposing a 60-day limit for families with children. City Hall officials cautioned that the 20 percent return rate should be considered a snapshot as the shelter population fluctuates. And the apparent progress on that front contrasted with Adams warning anew Tuesday that migrants sleeping outdoors as room runs out indoors is a matter of “when,” not “if.” He appeared to envision what that would entail. “We have to make sure that people have some type of restroom facilities, some type of shower network,” Adams added, saying he’s in touch with other countries that have managed the same. It’s a daunting prospect as winter approaches. “We need to manage it [so] that’s not a citywide visual state of chaos,” Adams said of his plans to “localize” outdoor living. Josh Goldfein, a Legal Aid Society staff attorney, told Playbook of migrants being forced to sleep on the streets: “Per multiple court orders and laws, the city still has a legal obligation to ensure that anyone in need of shelter has access to exactly that.” — Emily Ngo IT’S WEDNESDAY, and in this newsletter, we root for the World Series-bound Arizona Diamondbacks. (This is Jeff.) Got news? Send it our way: Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman. WHERE’S KATHY? Speaking at the groundbreaking for the People’s Theatre Project. WHERE’S ERIC? Appearing live on Radio Vision Cristiana 1330 AM, attending a flag-raising ceremony for Kazakhstan and speaking at the grand opening of the Empire Steak House. QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Prospect Heights is now a hot place to own property. … Many folks did not want to come in. I made it safe, and now everyone is enjoying the great work that I’ve done.” — Mayor Eric Adams, explaining why he decided to maintain partial ownership in a Brooklyn co-op, even after making a number of claims about divesting from the property over the years: that he had given it away, that he didn’t realize he still owned it and that the transfer to a friend was in the works but was delayed by tax issues.
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