Angelica Hernandez, her husband and their six-year-old son have been living at the Row NYC since they arrived in the city from Venezuela a year ago.

What You Need To Know

  • Migrant families and their children began packing up and leaving the homeless shelter at the Row Hotel in Midtown Manhattan on Tuesday morning

  • About 40 families were among the first wave of families forced to either reapply for shelter or find somewhere else to live

  • Comptroller Brad Lander is launching an investigation into the process and implementation of the 60-day rule

“It was a little difficult because we weren't working,” she said through translation. “We don't have a work permit. We  applied for asylum and TPS, but we haven't received the work permit yet.”

Without a job, she said they cannot afford to stay anywhere outside of the shelter.

But their stay at the Row NYC, along with dozens of other families, is up.

Mayor Eric Adams instituted a 60-day shelter limit policy for migrant families as a way to decrease the population of asylum seekers in the city’s care. 

“They only gave me a little paper and that is it. They didn't tell me anything else,” said Hernandez. “They told us we had to go to the Roosevelt Hotel, but that is very horrible.”

Tuesday morning impacted families packed up their things and headed to the Roosevelt Hotel in-take center to reapply for a new shelter placement.

But not Hernandez. Her family was heading to Philadelphia to stay with family.

“Thank God family is going to receive us. The time we had here gave us time to establish ourselves and communicate with the family,” explained Hernandez.

Comptroller Brad Lander has been a critic of this policy.

“Honestly, one of the cruelest things that New York City Hall has done in generations,” Lander said of the policy.

His office is launching an investigation in the process and implementation of the 60-day rule.

“What are the costs? What are they tracking? How are they going to know where families wind up? How are they going to know whether kids are still in their schools and not just enrolled, but attending and where they are and how transfers would affect people's applications for work authorization,” questioned Lander.

The Comptroller’s Office has set a deadline of January 22 for the city to provide all the requested information, with weekly updates beginning January 29.

More than 4,000 families have received a 60-day notice.