(Bloomberg) -- New York Mayor Eric Adams suggested that the thousands of recently arrived asylum-seekers might not be subject to the “right to shelter” law that requires the city to provide housing for anyone who needs it.

“The migrant crisis is outside of the housing initiative that we’re doing for right to shelter. These are two different entities,” Adams said at a press briefing Tuesday. 

While he said that the city will continue treating people in a humane fashion, “we’re dealing with a humanitarian crisis that was created with human hands,” a reference to a push by Republican Governors Greg Abbott of Texas and Doug Ducey of Arizona to bus migrants to sanctuary cities including New York. Oscar Leeser, the Democratic mayor of El Paso, Texas, has also been busing migrants to northern cities.

The shift in tone from the mayor could herald a change in how the city handles the influx. City spokespeople didn’t immediately return a request for comment about how the city’s policies might be revised. 

Housing advocates pushed back on the mayor’s comments. The Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless said in a statement that the right-to-shelter mandate is explicit and that it applies to asylum-seekers.

New York has been grappling with how to handle the legal right to shelter amid a crush of more than 13,000 new arrivals from Central America and South America, most of whom are currently living in crowded city facilities. 

New York City’s right-to-shelter law stems from two court cases in the 1980s. It mandates certain requirements, like a bed frame and mattress, that beds be distanced three feet apart, and laundry services, which the city may try to skirt.

Adams previously faced an outcry from advocates after saying he wanted to reassess shelter practices. His chief counsel, Brendan McGuire, said in mid-September that the city was looking at practices around the right to shelter, not the right to shelter itself. 

Last week, the city announced plans to shelter migrants who don’t have another place to stay in tents for up to a few days, though stays could be longer. One center intended for single adults will be located in Orchard Beach in the Bronx.  

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