Council Releases Report Scrutinizing City’s Services for Migrants and New Yorkers

Council Releases Report Scrutinizing City’s Coordinated Services for Migrants and New Yorkers, Proposing Policy Reforms to Improve Support Services

City Hall, NY: On December 21, the New York City Council released a report examining the Administration’s policies and efforts to provide critical services to people seeking asylum in New York City and longtime New Yorkers. The report includes a package of policy proposals aimed at improving short-term emergency relief efforts and addressing long-standing structural shortcomings in the City’s supportive services. It puts forth specific policy recommendations to improve city shelters, housing, mental health services, language access, temporary humanitarian shelters, immigration legal services, rental assistance, workforce development, healthcare, education, and more. “New York has always been a welcoming city where people from all walks of life can access opportunities, no matter where they are from or what language they speak,” said Speaker Adrienne Adams. “Our city will only grow stronger by addressing the immediate and long-term needs of asylum seekers and all New Yorkers. As we prepare for the potential arrival of more migrants and work cohesively to provide culturally competent and necessary services, the City has an opportunity to strengthen our delivery of essential services to provide the utmost care and services for all. This set of policy recommendations and reforms is the Council’s contribution to advancing thoughtful, comprehensive ideas to better serve all communities.” The report’s recommendations follow a special two-day City Council Committee of the Whole hearing, which included testimony from members of the public, service providers, and City agency leaders from the Mayor’s Office of Contracts, Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, New York City Emergency Management, NYC Health + Hospitals, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Department of Social Services, Department of Youth and Community Development, and the Department of Education. “Tens of thousands of people are choosing to restart their lives in New York and enrich our city with their talents and strengths,” said Deputy Speaker Diana Ayala. “While some are cynically seeking to play political football with their lives and well-being. New York stands ready to embrace our newest arrivals. Instead of pointing fingers at each other we need city, state, and federal leaders to come together to meet the moment with bold, forward-looking policy solutions such as those outlined in this report.” Among the policy recommendations outlined in the report are the following:

Short-Term Needs: Pre-arrival Priorities and Immediate Needs · Increase communication among cities, states, and organizations to anticipate the number and kind of support newly arriving people and families may need. ·Expand efforts to connect migrants with family and intra-city/state transit where newly arriving people may seek to settle or reunite with loved ones. · Increase funding for urgent basic living essentials so that new arrivals have access to food, clothing, and other necessary items. ·Overhaul and expand City language services to expand interpretation and translation services available to all. ·Connect migrants to culturally appropriate mental health services prioritizing people who may have suffered both physical and mental trauma prior to and throughout their journey. ·Increase the number of beds and shelter programs for young migrants through additional dedicated funding and programming. · Create standards for temporary humanitarian centers including safety precautions, such as distance between beds, storage facilities for belongings, and access to wraparound services.

Needs within the First Few Days of Arrival · Culturally competent food assistance to provide and transport reliable supplies of culturally appropriate cuisine to migrants. ·Expand immigration legal services with new funding and public-private partnerships to fill in gaps in service. ·Expand the documents City agencies recognize for IDNYC and other services to include those new arrivals are likely to have. ·Help new arrivals navigate NYC with MetroCards and language-appropriate guidance on using public transportation. ·Multilingual staff at family welcome centers with information on all educational options. ·Work permits for newly arriving migrants through new federal legislation.

Speaker Adams and other members of the Council. Editorial credit: rblfmr / Shutterstock.com

Services for Migrants/ continued from page 8 Long-Term Needs: Housing ·Allow shelter residents to access City rental assistance sooner by considering legislation eliminating the 90-day shelter-stay requirement. ·Speed up approvals for City rental assistance by reducing administrative and procedural hurdles. ·Crackdown on landlords illegally denying City rental vouchers by ensure that the Commission on Human Rights’ Source of Income Discrimination Unit is fully staffed. ·Reduce the documentation needed to enter City shelters by considering legislation to reduce the two-year housing history documentation requirement. ·Ease the process for families seeking shelter by increasing efficiency and staffing at the Prevention Assistance and Temporary Housing (PATH) family intake center, ·Expand social services available at City shelters by considering legislation to expand the number of eligibility specialists and housing specialists available at shelters. ·Build more permanent affordable housing following the framework included in Speaker Adams’ Housing Agenda. ·Evaluate supportive services for New Yorkers exiting shelters including piloting a new or supplemental aftercare program to support New Yorkers transitioning from the homeless shelter system. ·Make City rental assistance available to all regardless of immigration status.

Economic Opportunity, Food Insecurity, and Health ·Expand workforce development training to build on migrants’ existing skills. ·Provide food assistance program information to migrants with detailed language-accessible and location-specific information about food pantries and soup kitchens ·Connect new arrivals with free and lowcost City healthcare at our public hospitals to ongoing preventative and responsive health care. ·Prepare City workforce to deliver trauma-informed care including initial and ongoing training to all government personnel who regularly engage with asylum seekers.

Education ·Expand the pool of bilingual and multilingual teachers at City schools. ·Ensure schools receive all available funding including Title I, Title III, and IDEA funding ·Expand English classes for adults to meet the current demand from recent arrivals and long-time New Yorkers. ·Language Access Coordinators in all schools to ensure students and families receive language-appropriate educational support. ·Expand multilingual mental health services for students, providing culturally competent and linguistically appropriate mental health care to students. ·Remove barriers to retaining multilingual teachers by reviewing state requirements for certification. ·Support schools in securing student records for new migrant students. ·Expand childcare to all by building on Council-funded initiatives supporting childcare for undocumented children in NYC. “To date, our City has welcomed over 31,000 asylum seekers, finding shelter, housing, and support for nearly every single one of them. However, as we prepare for the end of the racist Title 42 policy, we must redouble our efforts to ensure everyone who comes to New York City seeking safety can find it,” said Immigration Chair and Council Member Shahana Hanif. “The Speaker’s call for expanded legal services, permanent housing, multilingual mental health care, and funding for schools, both to meet the short- and long-term needs, for newly arrived New Yorkers, is exactly the response our City government should take. As we mourn the second suicide of an asylum seeker in our City’s care, we must expand our efforts to provide care and pursue this policy package to ensure we meet this moment for the thousands of asylum seekers who are relying on us.”

Editorial credit: Steve Sanchez Photos / Shutterstock.com

The full report is available at www.cawnyc.com

ISLAND FOCUS: HAITI

10 Amid Unprecedented Violence, Humanitarian Crisis in Haiti, International Specialized Armed Force Urgently Needed, Deputy SecretaryGeneral Tells Security Council

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks to the Security Council briefing on Haiti, in New York on December 21: Thank you for the opportunity to make introductory remarks on the situation in Haiti, a country that remains a priority for the United Nations and, more personally, to the Secretary-General and I. During my last visit to Haiti in February, I was encouraged by the nationally led efforts towards recovery. I saw strong efforts to rebuild after the tragic earthquake that struck the southern peninsula in 2021. I was encouraged by nationally led efforts towards recovery. And I was heartened by the solidarity of Haiti’s international partners. Efforts to eliminate cholera were yielding results. And there were high hopes that political negotiations would set a new course for stability and sustainable development. But, at the end of 2022, Haiti is in a deepening crisis of unprecedented scale and complexity that is cause for serious alarm. Efforts to engage in dialogue continue to be made on the way forward. Insecurity has reached unprecedented levels and human rights abuses are widespread. Armed gangs have expanded their violent criminal activities, using killings and gang rapes to terrorize and subjugate communities. Gang violence is paralyzing the country and obstructing the freedom of movement of people, of goods and humanitarian aid. It has fueled the resurgence of cholera, increased food insecurity to unimaginable levels, displaced 155,000 people and disrupted the education of thousands of children. The Secretary-General and the whole United Nations, stand in solidarity with the people of Haiti during these extremely difficult times. Special Representative of the Secretary-General La Lime, His Excellency Ambassador Michel Xavier Biang and Kim Ives will brief you on the details of the situation unfolding before the eyes of the world. Allow me, in these brief remarks, to draw attention to two aspects of the crisis. First, Port-au-Prince and the regions beyond are suffering the worst human rights and humanitarian emergency in decades. As always, vulnerable communities are suffering most. For example, 90 per cent of cholera cases are in areas already suffering high rates of severe acute malnutrition. I condemn in the strongest terms the reports of widespread sexual violence by armed gangs. The harrowing accounts in the report issued two months ago by the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) are a call to action and accountability. The United Nations will continue to provide a voice for women and girls living in communities that are controlled by gangs; to work to reduce their vulnerability to violence of all kinds; and to call for justice and accountability for the perpetrators of these heinous crimes. Second, there is an urgent need for international support and solidarity. Now is certainly not the time for the world to turn away from Haiti. It is time to step up and turn the current crisis into an opportunity for Haiti to bounce back stronger. I urge every country with the capacity to do so to give urgent consideration to the Haitian Government’s request for an international specialized armed force to help restore security and alleviate the humanitarian crisis. I have seen it on the ground. This is absolutely essential if Haiti is to return to institutional stability and get back on the road towards peace and sustainable development. I reiterate the Secretary-General’s call for international support to the Haitian National Police, as set out in his letter of 8 October. Despite the end of the siege at the Varreux oil terminal, there is a continued need for solidarity and action from the international community. Haiti’s people, like people everywhere, have a right to go about their daily lives without the threat of kidnapping, rape or murder; to access basic and life-saving services; and to exercise their political and civil rights, including the right to vote in elections. There are many other crises around the world. But, very few crises, if any, test our commitment and values like the one that we are witnessing in Haiti. It is a test of the common humanity that should be at the heart of international cooperation. It is a test of our solidarity with the people in deep suffering. During my visit last February, I spoke with civil society, students, women and girls. Those conversations gave me hope. Now we need to help Haitians keep that hope alive, for today and for tomorrow. There is clearly an urgent need to respond to the most immediate emergency. But, Haiti will also need international support to address the structural causes of this crisis and break the cycles that have constrained its development for so long. Inclusive, sustainable development is essential in its own right; it is also humanity’s ultimate crisis prevention tool. The Secretary-General and I, and the entire United Nations, reaffirm our solidarity and commitment to stand with Haiti and its people, and to support the country’s recovery towards sustainable development, democracy, stability and peace. For this new year, I call for unity and solidarity in support of a solution to the crisis in Haiti, led by Haitians, and for all Haitians. l Read more stories at www.cawnyc.com