NYC shelter for undocumented immigrant women?
January 9, 2015 3:02 PM   Subscribe

My homeless friend is afraid to go to a shelter because she is an undocumented immigrant. What resources are available for her in New York City?
posted by anonymous to Law & Government (4 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Have you called 311? They are supposed to be very helpful.
posted by rada at 3:07 PM on January 9, 2015


What is she worried about? There are no citizenship or green card requirements for NYCers in crisis who need emergency shelter. If she needs a resource to help her with the process, tell her to call Coalition for the Homeless.
posted by lassie at 3:23 PM on January 9, 2015 [1 favorite]


I am not sure if this is available in New York, but in California, you can go to ANY public phone and dial 211 (I believe without putting money in the phone) and get information for services. This is their search site. This is their national map. The national map has a link for New York, but I can't currently get it to come up.

FWIW: It is really common for homeless people to have no identification. (It gets pretty routinely lost or stolen.) This is so common, that some organizations provide assistance in getting the necessary documentation to re-establish ID. So the odds are good that her status has no real bearing on her ability to get at least some services as a homeless person.

In poor weather, it is pretty common for there to be local services offering emergency shelter because not offering it lands more people in the ER and what not. In some cases, for local storms or the like, they reduce or eliminate their usual requirements and look the other way on things that normally would not be okay in order to get people off the street in the worst weather. In San Diego, they set up a tent (or did back when I was in downtown) during the rainy season in order to expand the number of beds available to the homeless during the worst of the weather.

I would also contact Catholic Charities. This is their New York website. My experience of them as a homeless client in California was very positive (though I never stayed in a shelter, I did get help with food resources, among other things). Their site indicates they have both homeless services and immigrant services. So you could call and ask what kind of help they might have for an undocumented immigrant who is also homeless and see if they might be able to hook you up.
posted by Michele in California at 3:48 PM on January 9, 2015 [3 favorites]


I have been a social worker in NYC. While they don't like to do it, and will like to ask for documents, she should be able to get into shelter on what is called a "self-declaration." Tell her to hold firm. Many citizens who are homeless do not have documentation either, and New York's Right to Shelter means they cannot turn her away.
posted by corb at 4:30 PM on January 9, 2015 [8 favorites]


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