Former President Bill Clinton has publicly agreed that New York City’s “Right to Shelter” law needs to be changed in light of the ongoing migrant crisis.
Speaking with John Catsimatidis on 77 WABC radio’s The Cats Roundtable show, the former Democrat president said that he agrees with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s call to amend the current law.
Hochul thinks it should be modified, and it probably should under the circumstances,” Clinton said.
Both New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Kathy Hochul have said that the law only addresses local homelessness, not the wave of migrants that have descended on the city in recent months. Asylum seekers and homeless advocates have opposed changes to the law.
“It’s broken. We need to fix it … It doesn’t make any sense,” Clinton said. “They come here, and we’re supposed to shelter people who can’t get work permits for six months. We need to change that. They ought to work. They need to begin working, paying taxes and paying their way. Most of these people have no interest in being on welfare.”
Clinton used the moment to swipe former far-left New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who he said refused his help in tackling the issue in the past.
“In the beginning, I tried to help Mayor de Blasio. But he decided that he was … more progressive than he thought I was — whatever that means,” Clinton said.