Press Room

Over 30 years after the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was enacted, New York City schools have lagged far behind the law in accessibility. With less than a third of public schools fully accessible for people with disabilities, Public Advocate Williams is advancing his bill to require transparency on the city’s ADA compliance in school facilities.  “Many students with disabilities are barred from attending their neighborhood schools because of inaccessible infrastructure,” said Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams at a City Council hearing of the Committee on Education this afternoon. “This not only means that these students are unable to fully access their communities but that they must travel to an accessible school, which may mean hours on a bus every day, cutting into their  learning time. Students are also prohibited from participating in after-school programs, unless there is someone to provide transportation home after, because the school buses will not bring them home. This lack of accessibility also means that students’ family and community members with accessibility needs are unable to attend events and meetings at these schools.” The Public Advocate’s bill, Intro 399, would require the Department of Education to report annually on the degree to which school facilities comply with the ADA. It would also make it easier to contact each school’s ADA coordinator, and make clear and public the protocol for requesting an accommodation, as well as information on the ability of zoned schools to accommodate students and employees with disabilities. Currently, as the Public Advocate stated, “It has been more than thirty years since the ADA was signed into law, yet New Yorkers with disabilities are still barred from entering and attending many of our schools.” The public reporting required in this bill will provide key information to students, parents, and staff about individual schools and spotlight areas of urgent reform. The Public Advocate has often spoken about the challenges he faced in navigating the school system with Tourette Syndrome and ADHD. His experiences have informed his advocacy on disability justice issues throughout his time in office, including in releasing ‘Out of Service,’ a report on the MTA’s lack of accessibility infrastructure and the urgent need for investment. Speaking to the need for adequate funding of accessibility improvements amid ongoing citywide budget cuts, he argued that “Every year that we do not meaningfully prioritize making school buildings accessible is another year that students cannot attend the schools of their choice, or spend valuable instructional time traveling to a school that can accommodate them.” Read the Public Advocate’s full comments to the committee below. STATEMENT OF PUBLIC ADVOCATE JUMAANE D. WILLIAMS TO THE NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION JUNE 18, 2024 Good afternoon, My name is Jumaane D. Williams, and I am the Public Advocate for the City of New York. I would like to thank Chair Joseph and the members of the Committee on Education for holding this important hearing. In August of last year, Advocates for Children of New York found that only 31.1 percent of NYC schools are fully accessible for people with disabilities. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires that governments ensure people with disabilities have equal access to public programs and services, including public education. However, many students with disabilities are barred from attending their neighborhood schools because of inaccessible infrastructure. This not only means that these students are unable to fully access their communities but that they must travel to an accessible school, which may mean hours on a bus every day, cutting into their learning time. Students are also prohibited from participating in after-school programs, unless there is someone to provide transportation home after, because the school buses will not bring them home. This lack of accessibility also means that students’ family and community members with accessibility needs are unable to attend events and meetings at these schools.  Advocates for Children has called for $1.25 billion to be allocated for improving school accessibility to bring another 150 to 200 school buildings to full accessibility by 2029.  However, in the proposed FY25 budget, the School Construction Authority has only designated $800 million for improving accessibility. Every year that we do not meaningfully prioritize making school buildings accessible is another year that students cannot attend the schools of their choice, or spend valuable instructional time traveling to a school that can accommodate them.  Today, we are hearing my bill, Intro 399, which would require the Department of Education to report annually on the degree to which indoor and outdoor school facilities comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Additionally, this bill would make public the contact information for each school’s ADA coordinator, the protocol for requesting an accommodation, and information regarding the extent to which zoned schools have the capacity to accommodate students and employees with disabilities. It has been more than thirty years since the ADA was signed into law, yet New Yorkers with disabilities are still barred from entering and attending many of our schools.  Thank you.

"It’s shocking the difference and damage one administration can do to our city’s affordable housing crisis. The current administration has professed to care about affordability, but we continue to see the largest proposed rent increases in decades fueled specifically by the Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) members appointed by this Mayor.  “Tonight’s vote by the RGB is a failure that will lead to an unsustainable burden on tenants across the city while also not providing the relief some owners need. With rents at historic highs and vacancy rates at historic lows, we cannot continue to try and squeeze more money out of tenants who simply cannot afford it. Doing so will only exacerbate our homelessness crisis while driving New Yorkers out of their homes. While it is true some property owners, particularly smaller scale owners, are facing financial challenges, the city and state must bolster efforts to improve access to programs that provide them with support without adding undue burdens on all tenants across the city. “It’s clear by tonight’s vote that the Board did not listen to the countless tenants who made their voices heard during the RGB’s citywide hearings leading up to this vote. The city and state must now work diligently to address the housing crisis that has been exacerbated by the pandemic–  by building and preserving housing at a rapid rate– and the Mayor must begin to prioritize tenants by implementing bold, creative solutions that help them and all who are fighting to afford a city that is rapidly becoming unaffordable."

The ongoing housing and homelessness crisis that has pervaded city shelters and streets has an outsized impact on New York’s families. As of March, 69% of people in shelters were members of homeless families, including nearly 50,000 children. At a hearing of the Committee on General Welfare, Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams uplifted the challenges and harm created for families by onerous shelter policies, and said of the situation “It’s hard to see how we are viewing this as a success.”

“It is our moral and legal duty to provide shelter to those experiencing homelessness, and we should all prioritize creating permanent, affordable, accessible housing for everyone who needs it,” argued Public Advocate Williams. “The current time limits set by this administration violate the spirit of our city’s long-standing right to shelter… While the administration says that the 30- and 60-day shelter limits for migrants have contributed to a cost reduction, the consequences of that decision do not outweigh the benefits: children displaced from their schools and communities just when they are settling into normalcy, people lined up overnight on the streets in freezing temperatures, anxiety, confusion.”

Public Advocate Williams also spoke out about the barriers presented by city policy requiring an entire family seeking shelter to travel to the Prevention Assistance and Temporary Housing (PATH) Center in the Bronx, lamenting that “This means that children will likely not be able to attend school that day, instead spending their day in transit and in waiting rooms. Families often wait hours for their appointments, and they are not allowed to bring in outside food. Many families receive a temporary overnight placement and must return the next day in the hopes of being placed in a longer-term shelter. Some families are deemed ineligible for shelter and must start the process over again.”

Council Member Diana Ayala, Chair of the Committee, sponsors legislation to address this issue by “precluding the department of homeless services from requiring a child's presence at an intake center when a family with children applies for shelter.” The bill was heard at today’s hearing.

The Public Advocate’s full statement to the committee is below.

TESTIMONY OF PUBLIC ADVOCATE JUMAANE D. WILLIAMS TO THE NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON GENERAL WELFARE JUNE 11, 2024

Good afternoon, 

My name is Jumaane D. Williams, and I am the Public Advocate for the City of New York. Thank you to Deputy Speaker Ayala and the members of the Committee on General Welfare for holding this hearing.

In March 2024, 69 percent of those in shelters were members of homeless families, including 48,304 children. There are families experiencing homelessness, for a variety of reasons, in every neighborhood and community in our city—they are our neighbors, friends, classmates, colleagues, students, and loved ones. It is our moral and legal duty to provide shelter to those experiencing homelessness, and we should all prioritize creating permanent, affordable, accessible housing for everyone who needs it.

The current time limits set by this administration violate the spirit of our city’s long-standing right to shelter. Our city cannot bear the cost of housing and providing services to our newest New Yorkers alone, but evicting them—including families with children—from shelters is not the solution, particularly when there is no real casework for many of these families and without timely communication. While the administration says that the 30- and 60-day shelter limits for migrants have contributed to a cost reduction, the consequences of that decision do not outweigh the benefits: children displaced from their schools and communities just when they are settling into normalcy, people lined up overnight on the streets in freezing temperatures, anxiety, confusion. It is particularly unacceptable. I also want to mention that the administration which prides itself on diversity, to have this new policy affect primarily Black migrants is particularly disturbing. 

In October of last year, Mayor Adams announced that the 60-day shelter limit would be extended to migrant families with children, who represent about 75 percent of the migrant shelter population. In the time since, thousands of families have been given notice or evicted. This policy has been catastrophic for these families, and especially the children. Nearly one in five migrant children evicted from their shelters had their schooling interrupted, with two-thirds of those students no longer enrolled in a New York City public school at all. In addition, many migrant children who have moved far from their schools are now spending large portions of their days on transportation, if their buses arrive at all. For children who have already experienced massive disruptions in their lives—leaving their countries and coming to a new city, on top of trauma they may have endured—this is particularly devastating. Students become attached to their schools, teachers, and classmates, and interrupting that consistency is stressful and potentially re-traumatizing. 

The process for seeking shelter for families, even for non-migrant families, is onerous, with multiple hoops that families must jump through. The entire family, including minor children, must travel to the Prevention Assistance and Temporary Housing (PATH) Center in the Bronx. This is the only office at which a family can apply for temporary housing. This means that children will likely not be able to attend school that day, instead spending their day in transit and in waiting rooms. Families often wait hours for their appointments, and they are not allowed to bring in outside food. Many families receive a temporary overnight placement and must return the next day in the hopes of being placed in a longer-term shelter. Some families are deemed ineligible for shelter and must start the process over again. While families can receive a temporary, conditional placement while they reapply, they do not become eligible for DHS-specific rental vouchers until they have a formal placement.

For all, but especially children, experiencing homelessness is stressful and traumatic. Many children enter shelter after fleeing abusive or violent environments—domestic violence is one of the leading causes of homelessness in New York City. In April, Mayor Adams announced a pilot program, called “Project Home,” to connect domestic violence survivors with permanent housing. Beginning with 100 families with children, those staying in HRA domestic violence shelters will be eligible for HPD affordable housing, which was previously limited to those in DHS shelters. I applaud the mayor for this effort and I hope to see more like it in the future. And we also want to make sure that we’re clear with this policy affecting primarily Black migrants. We’re also not keeping track of where they’re going, we’ve seen overcrowding in places like mosques and other spaces. They are trying their best to fill the gap, so it's hard for us to see how we are viewing this as a success.

Thank you.

NEW YORK: Days after a young girl was aggressively accosted by law enforcement while selling fruit with her mother in Battery Park, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams introduced legislation requiring the city to report key information on street vendor enforcement actions. This bill would provide vital transparency and help ensure that procedures are followed, priorities are clear, and abuses are prevented.

 “This week, we all witnessed the dangerous consequences of criminalization, of responding to every issue with law enforcement. A young girl and her mother were confronted and brutalized while simply trying to earn a living for their family,” said Public Advocate Williams in introducing the bill. “By providing transparency into the process and practice of street vendor enforcement, in conjunction with comprehensive reform, we can help curb the criminalization of New York City’s smallest businesses and lead with information and engagement, not aggressive, unnecessary enforcement tactics.”

Intro 947, proposed at today’s Stated Meeting of the City Council, would require quarterly reporting on a wide range of information related to street vendor enforcement, including:

• The location and date of the interaction
• Whether the enforcement interaction was initiated due to complaints
• Whether the vendor was arrested or issued a civil or criminal summons
• Whether the vendor’s items were seized, and what items were being sold
• What documentation was requested of the vendor
• Whether there had been prior enforcement interactions with the same street vendor
• Whether a language interpreter was provided during the interaction.

The legislation follows a 2021 law establishing an unit for street vendor enforcement, originally a part of the Department of Consumer and Workforce Protection before the Adams administration moved the unit to the Department of Sanitation. That enforcement is intended to be focused on areas with a high volume of complaints, high congestion, or close proximity to produce retailers.

Street vendor enforcement practices have frequently been scrutinized for aggressive interactions with the public, which spurred the legislation to establish a separate enforcement unit for the industry other than the NYPD. However, the NYPD continues to be involved in enforcement, as seen in the recent video of the Battery Park confrontation. 

The new bill also supplements a package of bills originally introduced at the end of 2023 to support street vendors, including legislation from the Public Advocate which would create a division of Street Vendor Assistance within the Department of Small Business Services. The package also includes bills to promote business licensing and regulatory compliance of all mobile food and merchandise, reduce the criminal liability on food and merchandise vending, and establish siting rules and regulations for licensed and permitted vendors. 

Street vending in New York has always been significant in the city’s economy. Nearly 20,000 individuals are employed as street vendors to date. Street vending has played an important role in the city's growth, supporting immigrants, people of color, and military veterans to successfully operate the city’s smallest businesses, while creating entrepreneurs along the way. 

Under the current system, thousands of vendors have been waitlisted for food vendor permits, with some of them waiting for decades. As was seen in Battery Park last weekend, the city’s approach to vendors leaves many individuals harassed, unfairly arrested, and without adequate resources or clear regulations.

“An indefinite pause on congestion pricing will do irreparable harm to the city while undermining public confidence in the program and its purpose. “No version of congestion pricing was going to make everyone happy. No policy ever does. That doesn’t detract from the reasons it was developed – to reduce vehicle congestion, protect our environment, and improve our public transit infrastructure – causes which the governor has now put second to politics.  “Governor Hochul had ample opportunity to make her concerns known – the city’s economic recovery from the pandemic didn’t suddenly become an issue three weeks before the implementation of a law over a decade in the making. To review the policy after it takes effect is understandable. To delay this program at the last moment, after investing millions to prepare for it, is irresponsible and inexcusable. “Stalling congestion pricing means New Yorkers will continue to face extreme wait times and breakdowns in the subways, while traffic inches along overhead. The governor controls the MTA – she should be more than familiar with the consequences of delays.”

NEW YORK: On Wednesday, Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams delivered his annual ‘State of the People’ Address. In the address, he gave voice to the fears New Yorkers are facing, and featured speakers onstage to share stories of their fears and experiences – individual stories which highlight broader citywide fears. After hearing each of these testimonials, Public Advocate proposed policy solutions to address these fears, and urged New Yorkers not to give in to fear-mongering, but to respond to concerns with hope, compassion, and action.

Stories included fears of being a victim, of losing one’s home, of being unable to keep up and keep safe, of being crowded out, and of being excluded from opportunity. The Public Advocate then spoke to the need to establish freedom from fear.

Below are the stories of each of the five New Yorkers featured in the address.

Text of the Public Advocate’s remarks is available here, and full video is here.

Jason T. Bostick: The Fear of Being a Victim

Imagine losing your father to gun violence at a young age of nine. That was enough to make me fear for my own life.

Growing up in a poor neighborhood, overly exposed to violence, I diagnosed myself with PTSD. I wouldn't walk on the side of the street without parked cars. I felt death was close to me when a temperature rise.

How could I plan for the future? If I didn't believe I could make it? We’re all promised the American dream. However, stepping outside to my reality, how could I achieve the American dream with no means to? My escape for better days came from a basketball scholarship to college. Then my sister was killed, pulling me back to the projects.

Just when I thought all hope was lost, a one year pilot program called Project Restore Bed-Stuy, the first of its kind, landed in my neighborhood.

We gave two rival gangs the means to achieve the American dream. Last year we brought together six leaders, from both sides of the housing developments to talk about community safety, coping with trauma, and the future we want for ourselves and our community.

Imagine this opportunity was across all over New York City. Because of this opportunity, the neighborhood beef is squashed. We continue to work together to plan for a safe summer and a better community. And I stand here before you as a Columbia student.

Felix Guzman: The Fear of Losing One’s Home

New York is at a critical point in time for tenants like me, and when I say tenants like me, particularly, I mean tenants are neurodivergent, and also who have sometimes led non-traditional lives, including but not limited to limit the experience of having been unhoused, and also with justice involvement.

I was fortunate enough, after my experience of being incarcerated, to come back to housing, however, that did not stop my stability from being challenged, and my building actually turned into a cluster site housing facility. And then as a result, I became homeless.

I was homeless for 15 and a half months, and it was a journey, that's to say the least, having exited the shelter system, and then later on being fortunate enough to obtain a housing voucher as a male survivor of intimate partner violence.

I was led to believe that that was going to be the difference to actually stabilize myself; however, because of the accountability of not having the voucher applied in time, I lost it and however I was made, and I'm not homeless, still.I am fortunate that a way forward for me was made spite that, so I can attest to the fact that housing vouchers are not enough to build a thriving community.

If there isn't much that can be done except wait, I encourage everyone out there to agitate and push to legislate until change is effected.I am here because I fear that even with support for accessible housing, the rising cost of rent and cost of living will keep New Yorkers like me on the verge of homelessness again,on the hamster wheel of homelessness.

Second chances matter, and when a person is removed from their dignity, there's no telling what the world misses out on.

I'm afraid that landlords don't care about tenants' individual situations. In my particular case, concerning signs, dips, and holes in my ceiling, dripping water regularly threatened my safety, and the bathtub almost flooding out fully.

A frequently broken lobby door and back door which is opened by anyone and everyone. Plus, you know, the lobby door being broken leads to some impacts and so forth. I acknowledge the small changes that have been done to better the situation somewhat, but I understand that the repairs made to my home and building our patchwork minimums that lead me in an endless cycle of despair and disrepair.

Just because a person is a tenant does not mean that profit should be more important than that person's actual safety and well being. We need affordable housing, but it can't happen without the collaboration of everyone involved– elected officials, bureaucratic agencies, everyone, that includes the community.

And if I'm afraid that my landlord discriminates against me for having a housing voucher, what does that mean for someone else, who doesn't have the capacity and doesn't know? 

We need affordable housing. But if banks discriminate against me for a mortgage loan, how can that happen, if I get displaced? I'm afraid my income doesn't reflect today's average median income and that assures me that New York City will no longer be the home that I've always known. And with that being said, I'll just say it again. When a person is removed from their dignity, there is no telling what the world miss out on.

Adama Konate: The Fear of Being Unable to Keep Up and Keep Safe Français: Mon nom est Adama Konate et je suis membre du Projet de Justice pour les Travailleurs. Il y a deux ans, j’ai migré de la Côte d’Ivoire à New York pour aider ma famille. Depuis mon arrivée, je travaille comme livreur pour DoorDash. 

English: My name is Adama Konate and I’m a member of the Worker’s Justice Project. Two years ago I migrated from the Ivory Coast to New York City to support my family. Since arriving, I’ve worked as a delivery worker for DoorDash. 

Français: Les rues sont notre lieu de travail. Pour nous, la sécurité signifie avoir des rue conçus pour nous, les livreurs, qui transportons de la nourriture, des médicaments, et tout de dont les New-Yorkais ont besoin,

English: The streets are our workplace. For us, safety means having streets designed for us delivery workers who transport food, medicine and everything that New Yorkers need. 

Français: Notre lutte comme les Livreurs Unis est d’avoir un lieu de travail digne et sûr. Pour y parvenir, nous avons besoin d'un lieu de travail avec une infrastructure améliorée où nous pouvons recharger ou échanger les batteries de nos vélos électriques et nous reposer, ainsique des pistes cyclables protégées et des droits du travail renforcés. 

English: Our struggle as United Delivery Workers is to have a dignified and safe workplace. To achieve this, we need a workplace with improved infrastructure where we can charge or swap our e-bike batteries and rest, as well as protected bike lanes and stronger labor rights.

Français: Nous sommes une force de travail importante dans cette ville et nous méritons des infrastructures décentes. Merci au Défendeur Public Williams d’inclure nos voix de nous aider à lutter pour garantir que les rues soient un lieu de travail sûr et décent pour nous.

English: We are an important labor force in this city and we deserve decent infrastructure. Thank you to Public Advocate Williams for including our voices and for helping us fight to ensure that the streets are a safe and decent workplace for us.

Elliott Ismail: The Fear of Being Crowded Out

I'm afraid of being lost in the crowd. I have the fear that I'm being overlooked, and not served in overcrowded schools that experience budget cuts every single year.

I'm a high school student. I'm forced to bike to school because public transportation isn’t the reality that we want it to be. I walk through metal detectors, and I struggle to put my keys, wallet, ID in my bag.

While walking through the crowded halls I'm faced with heat that is as suffocating as placing a pillow on my face. I can't breathe as I walk up four flights of stairs, trying to push through thousands of students to the staircases who are also trying to get to class, where it is now frigid in the classrooms.

I try to catch my breath while trying not to fall asleep as we learn checks and balances for the fifth time this week. This tells me that there's no space to grow, advance, and speak out. I work with hundreds of students across the city with TREEage, a student-led climate justice nonprofit working to fight climate change in New York City by changing legislation.

I hear how bad air quality is, and we have broken windows, and it's heartbreaking that our future, our now, is learning in these conditions and our buildings are centuries old. I fear the educational system is failing mem setting me up for failure. My classmates were told not to apply to certain universities and CUNYs with lower acceptance rates, because we would never get in. I applied anyway to the hardest program to get through in the CUNY system, and I got in, even despite what my school told me to do.

But I shouldn't have to do that. My school should have supported me. And the education system failed me but no New Yorker should have that to live with that fear.

Monica Sibri: The Fear of Being Excluded from Opportunity

An opportunity that allows me to stand here today.

Not just as an advocate, but as a testament to how when you do things right, from the heart and with intention, you make a difference beyond the moment. 

Eleven years ago, the city, the Office of the Public Advocate, and the New York Immigration Coalition took a chance on me. I lived in fear of never getting an education, a job, and separated from my family.

Today, I have transformed those fears into opportunities of action, giving back to the same movement that built me. So how do we continue to have a sustainable impact when the city systems are not promoting opportunity – in a way, lately, they’re preventing it. You may say that's just how government works, but it does not have to be. Today I use this space to bring attention to a pervasive and often unseen fear among our new neighbors. The migrant children and families selling candy in our city’s subways.

Imagine, at such a tender age, to navigate an underground world of not just trains, but of complex social and legal challenges. Children carry not just candy, but also the heavy weight of uncertainty, fear of making the wrong decision, fear of displacement, and the terrifying possibility of separation from their families.

For three months, with social workers and volunteers, we walked subways, listened to heartfelt stories, and confronted the stark reality of needs unmet and potentials untapped. What we found was not just a call for help, but a deep seated desire among the children and their families to belong, contribute and succeed.

Via Project Algún Día, which means someday, we serve our community. Take the case of a mother we met. She was just sent to a shelter in Staten Island, selling candy with her four year old kid on the ferry. Critical eyes looked at her – she is alone, doesn't want to do this, but knows no other way.

She walks in fear of payment permanently being kicked off the ferry. Her only focus is on protecting and providing for her child. This moment challenges all to rethink our approaches and embrace innovative collaborative solutions.

Palm cards are not enough. We need hands joined in support, hearts and empathy, and policies that protect and empower to reshape fears into frontiers of opportunity for every child, every family, every newcomer who dreams of a better tomorrow, just like they did for me.