Guess what? When it comes to NYC’s social problems, tough love works.
The latest evidence comes from the city’s migrant housing efforts.
Mayor Eric Adams put in place a policy requiring migrants in shelters to vacate and reapply for a spot after 30 days (60 days for families with kids).
This bold step clawed back the public’s rights in the face of the “right to shelter” that’s so far forced Gotham to house tens of thousands of migrants, erecting new facilities to hold them and stuffing them into ritzy hotels.
And just 980 of the 4,893 migrants whose notice expired as of Sunday have actually reapplied: The other 80% found somewhere else to go.
Adams adopted the deadline policy over howls of protest from New York’s progressives — insanely committed to the idea that the city owes everyone who asks for it permanent, taxpayer-funded shelter.
The numbers prove him right and his critics wrong.
The key to ending New York’s migrant crisis isn’t endless handouts but limited, temporary help.
Indeed, one of the main reasons migrants gravitated to the city is clearly that those who’d already arrived put the word out that the accommodations here were excellent and permanent.
Adams’ earlier “sanctuary city” rhetoric didn’t help. But he’s woken up and completely changed his tune.
And that’s in line with the sentiments of city and state residents across the board.
The latest Siena poll on the issues shows that 84% see the migrant crisis as a serious problem; almost 60% as “very serious.”
Nearly two-thirds say New Yorkers have done enough to help migrants; 58% agree with Hizzoner that the crisis will “destroy New York City.”
Look, the migrants who made it here braved unthinkable hardship to do so: Human traffickers, narco gangs, punishing weather and terrain.
They can find their own way in America, like generations of immigrants before them.
The crisis won’t end until President Joe Biden — whom New Yorkers rightly blame for all this, with 64% disapproving of his handling of the crisis — starts taking his oath of office seriously and actually enforces our border.
But the shelter policy is a crucial step in the fightback against federal migrant folly.
And its success is proof the city should be looking to implement more “tough love” all across its vast array of social services.
