Immigration Committee Chairwoman Shahana Hanif said the Department of Homeless Services, Health and Hospitals, the mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs and other agencies were asked to testify to the council about a policy limiting shelter stays for migrant families to 60 days.

Hanif said they declined, and that left the education department to answer for a policy that isn't their doing.

What You Need To Know

  • Migrant families who receive a notice from the city will have two months to find new housing and, if they don't, can reapply for a new shelter placement
  • Council members, along with advocates and educators, said that will mean major disruptions for students — who will either have to travel long distances or change schools
  • Other city agencies that played a role in putting the policy in place declined invitations to testify to the Council — leaving the DOE to face questions about a policy it did not put in place

“I am so sorry in advance that you are being tasked to answer questions about decisions you are not responsible for,” Hanif said near the start of the hearing.

When she asked if the DOE had been consulted about the policy, their answer was carefully worded.

“We were made aware,” said Melissa Aviles-Ramos, Chancellor Bank’s chief of staff.

Migrant families who receive a notice from the city will have two months to find new housing and, if they don’t, can reapply for a new shelter placement. Council members, along with advocates and educators, said that will mean major disruptions for students — who will either have to travel long distances or change schools.

“Was there pushback to the fact that this would create obvious harm to students?” Hanif asked.

“Like any productive partnership, we talk about the challenges, especially the ones we know very well from our purview,” Aviles-Ramos replied. “And we make sure that whatever the situation is, we do our best to make sure that there is minimal disruption for children’s education.”

As for those challenges: the biggest will be transportation. Federal law allows homeless children to stay in the same school if they move; and through grade six, the city is required to bus them to class. But Hanif pointed to elementary schoolers who had been moved from Park Slope to Jamaica.

“I mean, that is a daytrip — it’s like going to Connecticut,” Hanif said.

It’s not just distance — the city has long struggled to adequately staff and organize bus routes.

“These buses, with all due respect, I know you’re working on it. They just don’t show up. They don’t show up for New York kids and they’re not gonna show up wherever you’re moving these families,” Councilwoman Gale Brewer said.

DOE officials said they have no control over where students are moved, but that the Office of Pupil Transportation is committed to serving them when they get there.

“If they want to stay in their school, then we have to make sure that we are working in close coordination with OPT to make sure the busing is available to students,” Aviles-Ramos said.

The DOE staff testifying said so far, only families at The Row hotel in midtown had been given notices to move. They said they could not provide exact numbers for how many notices had been given out since other agencies are the ones sending those notices.