TESTIMONY
Christine Clark, Chief of Litigation and Advocacy at Legal Services NYC, on the Harmful Effects of Shelter Length of Stay Restrictions on Children
2:43:51
·
150 sec
Christine Clark discusses the negative impact of shelter length of stay restrictions on newly arrived New Yorkers, especially children.
- Clark highlights the cruel and unnecessary nature of these restrictions, describing them as punitive by design.
- These policies severely hinder children's ability to form community bonds, access education, and manage trauma, ultimately exacerbating their instability.
- She criticizes the administration's depiction of the situation as a temporary emergency, advocating for long-term solutions instead of short-term fixes.
- Clark underscores the broader, destabilizing effects on the entire community, including education and employment.
- She calls for a reconsideration of current policies to prevent irreversible harm to children and their families.
Christine Clark
2:43:51
Good afternoon, Sherai Ella.
2:43:52
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
2:43:54
My name is Chris Dean Clark.
2:43:55
I'm the chief of litigation and advocacy at Legal Services NYC.
2:44:00
We provide civil legal services to over a 100,000 low income New Yorkers every year in a range of areas, including housing housing immigration law, family law, public benefits assistance, and workers' rights.
2:44:12
Many of our clients are immigrants, and many of them have experienced or are currently experiencing homelessness.
2:44:17
Some of them are in the shelter systems that we're talking about today.
2:44:22
I don't think I have anything to say that probably isn't gonna be said by my colleagues, but I felt some obligation on behalf of my clients and my neighbors to say it anyways.
2:44:31
These length of stay restrictions being imposed on newly arrived New Yorkers are cruel, unnecessary impunitive by design.
2:44:39
They, in many ways, harm children the most.
2:44:40
I think we've talked about that a lot today.
2:44:43
It prevents them from creating the community bonds that children need to thrive, particularly children in crisis or children if you experience trauma.
2:44:51
It prevents them from getting an education of really any kind, let alone the kind of education the New York State Constitution promises them.
2:44:59
You know, I think we've heard a lot from the administration today implying that kids aren't being moved out of their schools.
2:45:06
You know, we're New Yorkers.
2:45:07
They these are our neighbors.
2:45:08
They go to kid their kids go to school with our kids.
2:45:10
We know what's happening with them, and these parents are in crisis.
2:45:14
They're terrified of what's gonna happen with their kids.
2:45:19
Of course, this chronic instability hurts children, not only the newly arrived children, we've heard from teachers and parents about the harms up, for example, the letter that that person who just testified about her kid wrote, you know, this is destabilizing for the entire classroom.
2:45:35
It is horrible for children to watch these kids cycle in and out of their schools and not be able to make friends with them.
2:45:41
And to explain to them why it's happening.
2:45:43
That's heartbreaking.
2:45:46
There are a slew of collateral consequences that happen from these shelter limits for children, for everybody.
2:45:52
It prevents people from getting employment, obtaining work authorization, and maintaining the stability of the administration claims to want.
2:45:59
I do wanna say briefly the extent that the administration refers repeatedly to this as an emergency or a crisis implies that it's short term or that it's going to end soon.
2:46:08
And there's no reason to think that.
2:46:10
We have to come up with long term solutions and making fifty thousand people sleep on the streets or in waiting rooms every 60 days is not a long term solution.
2:46:18
Thank you so much.
2:46:18
Again, I really appreciate the opportunity to testify.