NYC NOW - November 1, 2023 : Evening Roundup

Episode Date: November 1, 2023

A new report finds that one in every nine students in New York City’s public schools experienced homelessness at some point last year. Plus, early voting is underway in New Jersey. WNYC’s David Furst and Nancy Solomon look at what’s on the ballot in the Garden State. And finally, WNYC’s Karen Yi reports on a new policy that’s complicating a long-term solution for migrants in New York City's care.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. I'm Jene Pierre. New York City public schools hit a new milestone, but it's not for any reason we're celebrating. A new report from Advocates for Children says one in every nine students in city schools experienced homelessness at some point last year. More than 119,000 students lived in temporary housing, either in shelters, motels, or doubled up with others. The arrival of tens of thousands of migrant families has contributed to the spike in student homelessness. But advocates say it's a longstanding problem. The number of homeless students in the city has topped 100,000 for eight straight years. Advocates worry a new policy from the Adams administration

to limit shelter stays for families will make life more challenging for struggling families. Early voting is underway in New York and New Jersey. After the break, we'll take a look at what's on the ballot in the Garden State. Stay close. Election season is upon us. Early voting runs through Sunday, November 5th, and Election Day is on the 7th. If you've been keeping up with our podcast feed, we previewed some races in New York a couple episodes ago. Now we head to New Jersey. My colleague David First talked with WNYC's Nancy Solomon for a look at some important races in the Garden State. What's on the ballot? Every state legislative seat. There's the 40 in the state Senate.

Senate and 80 in the General Assembly. There are also a ton of local school board races, some of which have become battlegrounds over the national culture wars. And then there are town councils, municipal races, mayoral races, also on the ballot. These off-year elections have a very low turnout, typically, so a small group of voters can have a bigger effect. Have there been any signs that the conservative parent backlash is driving voters to the polls? There are a lot of signs. I spoke with Darcy Drager of Districts for Democracy, which is a group started by former Congressman Tom Malinowski to deal with book banning and the opposition that's going on in schools to teaching about all sorts of things, slavery, Martin Luther King, even the Holocaust. So districts for democracy is calling attention to school board fights all over the state where local candidates are following the playbook of the group Moms for Liberty and trying to take over their

local school boards. This is an instance where it's quite likely that the race at the bottom of the ticket, like the local school board, might turn out more people to vote than the top of the ticket, which is, the state legislative races. So that could have a big effect, not just on schools, but on the state legislative races. You know, you can see some the jitters among Democratic candidates as an indication of that. You're talking about jitters. What kind of jitters?

We've seen some Democratic leaders change their language about supporting parental choice, which is how the Moms for Liberty folks frame their opposition to changing ideas about sexual identity or gender identity or teaching even about race and racism in school. And we've also seen some Democratic legislators start to push back on Governor Murphy's big moves to cut fossil fuel use. He supports wind power and electric vehicles and some Democrats have been saying, oh, maybe you're going a little too far and a little too fast. You know, so I think many Democrats in the legislature, I mean, it might be election jitters and why they're making these statements, but it also could be that they're not as progressive as the governor,

and so they have a difference opinion. It's hard to say exactly. Well, can you walk us through some of the most significant races? What are you going to be watching in this election? In the state senate, I think the most interesting race is whether or not the Democrat Vin Gopal can survive in his very purple district. He's been considered a rising star in the New Jersey Democratic Party, but he's facing a very tough election.

And again, it could be the school issues that pull out Republicans and give him the most trouble. In South Jersey, whether or not Ed Durr, the MAGA truck driver turned legislator, whether he can get reelected, that's going to be a real interesting test of Trumpism in its South Jersey stronghold. That's WMYC's Nancy Solomon talking with my colleague, David First. Last month, New York City Mayor Eric Adams curtailed shell. shelter stays for migrant families in the most drastic move yet to reduce services for new arrivals. Immigration attorneys say that could make applying for a legal work permit more challenging. WMYC's Karen Yee reports the new policy is complicating a long-term solution for migrants in the city's care.

On a recent rainy day, about a dozen Venezuelan families huddle around tables at the Catholic Charities of New York's Lower Manhattan Office for a legal clinic. Busy toddlers fidget with their parents' phones. Older kids play it on the floor with coloring books. The adults flip through stacks of paperwork. Their double and triple checking, they have what they need to apply for a work permit as they wait their turn for help. 25-year-old Andreina Gonzalez is here with her 6-year-old daughter and her partner. She says she wants to work and stop relying on the city's

emergency shelter system. She says without a work permit, she says without a work permit, migrants often take any job they can get, even if the pay is low. But after 10 months living in a shelter, Gonzalez has some hope. In September, the Biden administration announced Venezuelans living in the U.S. as of July were eligible for temporary protected status, or TPS. It's a federal designation that gives migrants. from certain countries the right to live and work in the U.S. for periods of time.

It's a sort of fast track for work authorizations because getting a work permit while applying for asylum can take much longer and asylum cases can take years to resolve. Gonzalez and her partner, Moises Gutierrez, are among the estimated 15,000 Venezuelans in city care eligible for TPS. The 38-year-old Gutierrez says it's not easy to have empty pockets. After just a few months living in Brooklyn, he says he already knows his way around the subway. He says a work permit will open doors for him and his family. He says he's willing to work in construction.

or landscaping, anything to make enough to pay rent. New York City and state officials have lobbied hard for expanding work authorization. As a much-needed relief valve for a shelter system, Mayor Adams, keeps warning is about to burst. We are out of room and is not if people will be sleeping on the streets, it's when. Last month, the city announced its issuing eviction notices to migrant families with children and its care. Families have 60 days to find another place to live or reapply for shelter. Adult migrants are already limited to 30 days stays. That means migrants could be bounced around different shelters every few weeks. Legal services providers who are rushing to help new arrivals process process

say those new rules are making an already convoluted immigration process even harder to navigate. We do foresee this being a large problem. is a managing attorney at Catholic Charities of New York, which provides legal and other services to new arrivals. She says work authorization is a physical card, and it is going to go to a physical address. And if the government does not know that physical address, they are going to send it to wherever the person used to live.

And there are other idiosyncrasies in the process. For example, if a family applies for a work permit but moves before they get the application confirmation number in the mail, they won't be able to let the government know they've moved. It's like a bit of a catch-22. Like, there's no way to tell the government where to send the mail for that case. The city says it's also processing TPS and work permits at its application center and will increase appointments this month.

Officials say they're trying to find solutions, so migrants exiting and re-entering shelters can get their mail. While Gonzalez was in Venezuela, she was pursuing a nursing degree. But these days, she's lucky if she makes $200 to $300 cleaning homes every week. She hopes she can go back to school one day. But first... She says she hopes to get her work permit. Maybe a blessing in the mail by Christmas.

That's WMYC's Karen Yee. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. Catch us every weekday, three times a day. I'm Jenae Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.