NYC Council aims to streamline migrants getting work, families entering shelter with series of bills

The City Council is taking up measures Tuesday designed to make it easier for migrants to enter the city’s workforce and streamline the shelter application process for homeless families with children.

The Council’s Committee on Immigration scheduled a joint hearing with the Committee on Small Business to discuss a bill that would change the application process for New York City IDs, which are widely accepted as valid proof of identification and are an important tool for migrants applying for jobs.

The bill would require the Department of Social Services to provide same-day, in-person application appointments at enrollment centers, and would create an appeals system for applicants who are denied a card. It would also mandate yearly training to educate IDNYC workers on the application process.

The committees also planned to discuss the Adams administration’s progress on awarding work permits to asylum seekers and migrants with federal Temporary Protected Status. According to City Comptroller Brad Lander's office, almost 40,000 jobs were open to migrants and asylum seekers across New York at the beginning of this year.

That hearing was set for 10 a.m. in the City Council Chamber.

Also on the agenda Tuesday is an oversight hearing of the Council’s Committee on General Welfare, where councilmembers planned to debate five bills related to the city’s shelter intake system for homeless families with children.

The bills — each focusing on a different aspect of the intake process — are meant to expand ease and access for families in need of shelter. One would require the Department of Homeless Services to open an intake center in Queens or Brooklyn, saving families the trek to the city’s only current intake center in the Bronx.

Some of the other bills would call for DHS to provide more services and staff at shelters and intake centers — requiring designated specialists to help each family navigate the intake process and apply for benefits. They would also encourage the DHS to look into partnerships with local organizations who could help with intakes, and would do away with the rule that children have to be present when their parents apply for shelter.

Almost 19,000 families with children are currently in DHS shelters across the city, according to the Institute for Children, Poverty and Homelessness. That’s a significant uptick from 2022, when the number hovered around 12,000.