Number of Homeless in NYC At Highest Point Since 1980s

Mayor Bloomberg went to Albany yesterday to complain about the new NY State budget for 2006 since Governor Pataki gave the ol' F-U to the city. However, something that the Mayor and the Governor can both be blamed for might very well be the state of the homeless situation in the city. The Coalition for the Homeless released their 2006 State of the Homeless Report which says homelessness has reached new highs since the 1980s:

Throughout the first half of the decade, an average of 32,609 New Yorkers slept in homeless shelters each night compared to an average of 23,295 in the 1980’s. In the same period, the number of homeless families in city shelters each night has nearly doubled from an average of 3,947 families in the 1980’s to a mid-decade average of 7,640 families in 2005. The most drastic increase came in the number of children seeking shelter. This decade - through 2005 - an average of 13,616 children are in New York City shelters each night, a 55 percent increase on the number of children who used city shelters on average throughout the 1990’s.

The Coalition of the Homeless goes on to say there are flaws with the mayor's homeless rent subsidy and that the lack of funding from city, state and federal resources to make housing affordable have been causing this problem to grow.

You can learn more about the Coalition for the Homeless' Campaign to get the city and state to increase support for homeless housing programs here and more about what you can do here.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on January 24, 2006 4:32 PM

Comments [rss]

Kat

Mr. Right Idea & Think Twice almost get it right.

Increasing the number of homeless shelters does not address the real problems facing the homeless.

Inadequate wages, education, child care, and affordable housing all play a part. Add in substance abuse and you've pretty much got the picture.

Statistics show that the longer a person stays in or the more often they must use a homeless shelter, the less likely they are to ever return to self-sufficiency. Those who were not "career homeless" become "career homeless" because there are no supportive, self-sufficiency programs available to help them meet goals toward self-sufficiency.

Programs targeted toward homeless people should begin to move towards resource centers and transitional housing instead of shelters. (Transitional housing traditionally being the place where some life skills training and connection to supportive services occurs).

Think twice

Mr. right idea is OTM.

The Coalition's Take Action page is the real step in the right direction. Encouraging volunteerism, donating to charities & non-profits, providing job training; this is the responsibility of people and businesses of NYS, not the state.

Heedlessly throwing more money into a bureaucratic, inefficient, inept, and unfair welfare state is becoming nothing more than political correctness.

Helping those who've stumbled in the rat race to get back on their feet and/or overcome a crippling addiction is one thing, but I have no sympathy for the career homeless.

right idea, wrong focus

Forget about "affordable" housing. A jihad against high rents is not the solution. No housing is affordable if you have no income. The city should concentrate on improving the quality and quantity of shelters, and of the social services designed to get destitute people back on track.

Kay

The lack of affordable housing in NYC has reached a crisis point.

erika!

i had the feeling this was happening. I've noticed an increase in spotting homeless people over the last few years, but in observation, it felt like it spiked last year.

this is really sad to hear.