Mayor Eric Adams is once again pushing to suspend the decades-old right-to-shelter law.

On Tuesday night, in a letter to the court, lawyers for City Hall asked a judge to be relieved of the requirement when it comes to single adults.

Lawyers for the city argue that the decades-old consent decree is cumbersome and outdated amid the influx of migrants.

“Point number one, sensible relief from a decree entered into over 40 years ago that was never intended to apply to a humanitarian crisis that we’re confronting present day,” said Lisa Zornberg, chief counsel for City Hall. “As a legal matter, restore us to the same exact footing so that the requirements we must follow during this humanitarian crisis are exactly the same as those applicable to every other place.”

The letter was filed as part of the ongoing court case between the city and advocates.

The city contends it needs relief to have more flexibility to deal with the present situation.

“The Callahan decree was never intended to require the city to build and finance an endless supply of housing,” said Zornberg.  

As part of the relief the city is seeking, they stipulate two conditions that need to be met to suspend the law.

One is that the mayor or governor declares a state of emergency. The second is a formula based on those entering the system in comparison with previous daily averages.

Lawyers representing unhoused New Yorkers say the conditions seem frivolous.

“I mean, what are we going to do, set up a counter and when the right number person crosses the line, there’s no more right-to-shelter. That seems not the way to operate a system meant to protect human beings from injury or death,” said Josh Goldfein, a staff attorney with the Legal Aid Society, one of the parties in the case.

The city also wants to be able to operate like upstate counties who haven’t been required to shelter any individuals.

But opponents contend upstate counties have a history of turning away those in need.

“We have seen over and over again that people up state are turned away from shelters. They are turned to the weather. They are left with nowhere to go. That includes people who are working, people who are disabled, people who aren’t able to get their public assistance case open,” added Goldfein.

Other opponents to the letter believe the request is part of a larger push by the city to skirt its obligations.

“The request to the court wasn’t [to] relieve us of the right-to-shelter for three or six months and then we’ll come back. It’s a request for a permanent removal of the obligation on the city,” said Christine Quinn, president and CEO of Win, one of the city’s largest operators of family shelters.

Critics of the city’s legal maneuver say Adams has other options available to him like giving housing vouchers to migrants.

“I don’t think they should be cut any slack. They haven’t done all that they could do given this situation,” Quinn added.