Chicago and New York City are moving forward with controversial plans to evict and limit shelter stays for recently-arrived migrants in an effort to reduce crowding and expedite resettlement, officials said.

“By specifically identifying single asylum seeking adults to be removed from shelters after 30 or 60 days without any true path to affordable housing … is not only immoral and antithetical to the intent of the Right to Shelter, but also short-sighted,” Murad Awawdeh, the CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition said in a statement. “A continuation of the 30 and 60-day limits will only exacerbate the city’s long-standing housing crisis and will unnecessarily force new residents onto the street.”

About 34 Chicago immigrants were expected to be evicted from three city-run shelters on Sunday, though only three reportedly left amid confusion about the process. Five others left on Monday, officials said. The asylum seekers were originally supposed to leave in January but their exit was postponed at least three times due to backlash from advocates amid severe winter weather.

Extensions for shelter stays will be determined on an individual basis, but families with children can receive three 30-day extensions through June 10 to accommodate for the school year, officials said.

Furthermore, to address rising measle cases in Chicago, all people entering the shelters will need to be vaccinated against Measles, Mumps, and Rubella, and the limited stay policy could be paused in case of outbreaks. The Chicago Department of Public Health reported last week that 10 of 12 confirmed cases in the area were found in the shelters.

“While we know Chicago’s limited resources cannot meet the full scale of need across the New Arrivals Mission, we are constantly evaluating options that will lead to better care for all Chicagoans,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a statement.

According to the mayor’s office, nearly 20,000 migrants have gone through the shelter system and resettled in the Chicago area or reunited with family or friends elsewhere. Of the more than 11,000 remaining in city-run shelters, about 4,000 are in the process of securing housing.

In response to its own influx of new arrivals, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced last week that single adult migrants over age 23 would only be given 30 days of shelter without the ability to reapply for a longer stay after the city reached a settlement with the Legal Aid Society following a months-long battle over the city’s “Right to Shelter” mandate.

Officials argued that the decree, enacted more than 40 years ago, was never intended to be applied under current “unprecedented” circumstances. Since 2022, more than 180,000 migrants have arrived in the city. Of the 120,000 people currently in New York City shelters, slightly more than half are immigrants, according to officials.

Young adult migrants under 23 would be eligible for 60 days of shelter. Adults with a disability or those who have demonstrated diligent efforts to find housing elsewhere will be allowed to reapply for refuge in the city. Families will not be impacted, officials said.

“This settlement safeguards the right to shelter in the consent decree, ensuring single adults’ — both long-time New Yorkers and new arrivals — access to shelter, basic necessities and case management to transition from shelter to housing in the community,” Legal Aid Society chief attorney Adriene Holder said in a statement.

The settlement will also require the city to clear its waitlist of migrants seeking shelter by April 8 and will eliminate “waiting rooms” in municipal buildings where new arrivals sleep in chairs or on the floor.

The new rules have received mixed reception from both sides, with a bipartisan group of right-leaning Staten Island elected officials issuing a joint statement that the decree is “for homeless New Yorkers, not eight billion people on the planet who may come to our city.”

Migrant advocates from all over have voiced concerns about shelter limit policies and said it could lead to more homelessness on the streets. The rules force people out without providing adequate sources to obtain work or housing, they said. Services are not offered in immigrants’ preferred language, contributing to confusion about shelter rules.

City officials like Adams have repeatedly said that impacted cities “cannot bear the brunt of this crisis alone” and urged for state and federal aid.

More than 2,000 Chicago migrants are expected to be evicted by the end of April.