TESTIMONY
Deborah Berkman, Senior Staff Attorney at New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG), on Inadequate Conditions and Support for New Immigrants in DHS Emergency Sanctuary Site Shelters
2:04:31
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178 sec
Berkman testifies about the challenges faced by new immigrant families placed in DHS emergency sanctuary site shelters, which lack resources and support compared to traditional family shelters.
- Many clients cannot enroll children in school or get help from shelter staff due to lack of caseworkers
- Families are given inadequate bedding and some have multiple families sharing small rooms
- Children experience health issues like weight loss, headaches, and fatigue from being served poor quality meals that are culturally inappropriate
- Obtaining dietary accommodations for medical needs is very difficult
- Clients report facing racist and xenophobic comments from shelter staff
- Berkman calls for equal funding for sanctuary shelters and cultural competency training for staff
Deborah Berkman
2:04:31
Good afternoon, deputy speaker Ayala.
2:04:33
Council members and staff, and thank you so much for the opportunity to submit this testimony.
2:04:38
NILEG overwhelmingly supports all of the bills on today's agenda.
2:04:41
And I've written I'm submitted written testimony expanding on that support.
2:04:46
But right now, I wanna focus on the experience of my new immigrant clients in DHS shelter.
2:04:51
First of all, I wanna thank you for all of the questions that you asked administrator Carter about the food, about the eligibility process.
2:04:58
All of that is really important.
2:05:00
But I wanna note that when new immigrants are sorted into the DHS shelter system, they are overwhelmingly placed in DHS emergency sanctuary.
2:05:10
Site shelters.
2:05:11
And while these shelters are operated by DHS, they lack the supports and resources of the traditional DHS family shelters that non new immigrants are placed into.
2:05:21
We've heard so many stories from our clients that highlight the way that these emergency sanctuary site shelters are deficient.
2:05:28
Many clients are not able to enroll their children in school and haven't received shelf and help or guidance from the shelter staff.
2:05:36
Because there's they don't have a caseworker.
2:05:38
I have several clients who don't have enough beds to accommodate all the family members and their family.
2:05:42
In fact, one nilead client family has 7 families in a room with only 2 double beds.
2:05:49
And one of the biggest challenges that our clients in the emergency are sanctuary site shelters report is that their children can't eat the meals provided.
2:05:57
And I was so happy to hear that you have culturally appropriate and culturally sensitive food because that's such an important thing.
2:06:03
But also, clients have report reported being given food that is still frozen or has visible mold, only being served cold foods or being served the same meal several times per day.
2:06:14
The majority of our new immigrant clients report that their children experience gastrointestinal stress when they eat the provided meals, which has led to the children losing weight, experiencing late headedness, headaches, and fatigue.
2:06:25
Our team has worked with many families whose children are under close medical evaluation due to the symptoms they experience as a result of the food they're provided.
2:06:34
Two more points.
2:06:35
It's very difficult for families when children have a medical need that has dietary restrictions to obtain a reasonable accommodation especially when the accommodation needed, is a access to a kitchen.
2:06:48
And particularly with clients who have children on the autism spectrum disorder who have problems with certain textures.
2:06:54
That's a huge challenge for them.
2:06:56
I also wanted to note that a lot of our clients report to us that they had been subject to racist and xenophobic comments and behaviors directed to them by shelter staff.
2:07:06
And I've written more about that in my testimony, but our request is that DHS Sanctuary Sites be funded and supported the same level of all other families with children's sites and that staff at DHS emergency sanctuary is sites undergo cultural competency training to ensure that our new neighbors are able to have a safe environment to live in.
2:07:27
Thank you very much.
