Robert Hess, who was appointed NYC Commissioner of Homeless Services in 2006, announced his resignation today. He told the NY Times, "I committed to the mayor to serve the second term, and I did that. I think it’s the right timing for the administration." However, the Times notes that he "is the latest high-ranking figure to leave the Bloomberg administration, in what aides to the mayor have privately described as a deliberate house cleaning intended to bring fresh faces into City Hall and clear out weak performers." The number of people living in shelters is now 36,000, up from 31,000 in 2006, and the city is now moving to charge some of the working homeless rent for living in shelters. more ›

In his State of the Borough address tonight, Borough President Marty Markowitz will lobby to turn two Brooklyn armories into recreation centers with gym facilities. Currently the huge old buildings—located on Bedford Avenue in Crown Heights and on Sumner Avenue in Bed-Stuy—house homeless shelters, and, like the recently-opened Park Slope Armory YMCA, they may continue to do so. "The [YMCA] in Park Slope is just beginning, but I have a hunch in a few short months it's going to be jam-packed," Markowitz said. "Bedford Stuyvesant deserves it as much as Park Slope, and so does northern Crown Heights." more ›

The city has been exploring a controversial solution to the problem of overcrowded homeless shelters—foreclosed homes! According to the Daily News, the Department of Homeless Services is moving families from shelters to cut-rate and sometimes illegal apartments. So far it's refused to say where all of its 12,000 Work Advantage families have been placed, but a survey of 70 participants found homes that are facing foreclosure, as well as illegally converted apartments and units full of violations. In the case of foreclosed homes, families got cozy in their new apartments, only to end up back on the streets. more ›

The city changed its emergency shelter policy yesterday at 5PM, vowing to turn away homeless families who had previously been deemed ineligible (because they could, potentially, stay with relatives or a friend). more ›

The cold wave continues! In response to the cold, which is expected to last several more days, the city has opened nine temporary warming centers and the Department of Homeless Services has doubled their outreach to the homeless in each of the boroughs. In addition the DHS has expanded their Cold Weather Emergency Procedure to operate 24 hours a day while temperatures remain below freezing. more ›

Brrrr… An honest to goodness cold day! A low temperature in the single digits! Can you believe it? It's been nearly two years since it has been this cold. To be exact, the last time it was this cold was on January 28th, 2005, toward the end of an eleven day cold snap. Our current cold snap? A pathetic two days. more ›

over the past two years. And not only is he suing them for $1 million, Kemp wants the four to stay at least 100 feet away from his store. more ›

Children living in many city buildings, hankering for a midday snack and sticking their little fingers in between loose floor boards may find a tasty treat: lead paint chips! The Daily News reports today that about 900 of the buildings used to house homeless people, through Bloomberg's Housing Stability Plus program, have been found to violate lead paint regulations. About 700 buildings tested positive for lead paint while another 200 or so were highly suspected of housing the poison. The Department of Housing Services has specifically identified the violating buildings but does not go so far as to point out which particular apartments in those buildings are afflicted. more ›

Worrying about how much money exactly ConEd owes folks in Queens (three months free electricity sounds nice to us) must seem like small potatoes if you don't even have a home or business to power in the first place. We mention this because for the first time in three years the number of people who are in just such an unenviable position is on the rise. "As of Wednesday, there were 8,424 families - representing 24,776 individuals - in city shelters, about 5 percent more than last July's figure of 8,046." To see the actual daily report click here (PDF). more ›

Mayor Bloomberg announced that the city will move the homeless out of street encampments and work with city resources to ultimately move into permament housing. Here are the Mayor's remarks:

"Today, I want to announce that we're launching the next major step to end street homelessness in New York. Over the past six weeks, our newly named DHS Commissioner, Rob Hess, and his team have identified the 73 sites around our city where some 350 homeless men and women-usually in groups no larger than four or five-have set up makeshift shelters under highways, next to train trestles, and on our streets. They're living in degraded and unhealthy environments. more ›

The Department of Homeless Services is gearing up for their annual count - Homeless Outreach Population Estimate 2006. Among the people to be counted are some people recruited to pose as "homeless decoys" to ensure the counts are statistically accurate. AM New York was on hand with Columbia University anthropologist Kim Hopper was giving instructions to the decoys for Monday's potentially all-night count:

"You have to dress in solid, crappy layers of Ivy-League stuff. Wear a lot, and top it off with a really ratty blanket or cloth.... This is not an Everest climb. This is a stupid research project. Do not lose your toes."

Police presence around Penn Station will be increased during the holidays. Not just because of possible terrorist threats, but because Police Commissioner Ray Kelly thinks there are too many panhandlers lurking around. While being driven by Penn Station, he was outraged by the number of beggars outside. And the NYPD spokesman said, "The police commissioner expects the police department to keep it free from panhandling." The NYPD will work with homeless services groups, though they have clashed in the past. One homeless man told the Daily News he noticed the NYPD's restrictive stance, saying, "I don't know what's going on this week. It's like President Bush is in town." Forget Bush, it's Commissioner Kelly, who at this point might be more powerful that the Commander in Chief. Hmm, we hope that Commissioner Kelly gets angry at people who don't scoop their dogs' poop next, because that impacts our quality of life a lot more. more ›

The results of the big survey the Department of Homeless Services conducted earlier this year to find out how many homeless New Yorkers there are show that just under 4,400 people are living on the streets. The numbers break out this way: Brooklyn has 592 homeless people, 587 in the Bronx, 1,805 in Manhattan, 315 in Queens, 231 in Staten Island and 845 live in the subways. The DHS will use this survey to better gauge how well their efforts to battle homelessness actally do. Newsday also points out that the homeless popultations in Chicago, Miami, Phoenix, Seattle and San Francisco are greater. more ›

Homelessness is a huge issue in the city. They are the unspoken population, and the Mayor's policies dealing with them were recently questioned in the weeks leading up the Republican National Convention (with reports of "moving the homeless" from the Madison Square Garden area). We can expect more talk about what the Mayor has done to help the homeless next year, as the Mayoral elections loom. Here's the City's Department of Homeless Services, as well as information from the Coalition for the Homeless more ›

The Park Slope Armory project is modeled on the Fort Washington Armory in Manhattan, which has a very cool track. And read the Mayor's press releae on the Park Slope Armory project.
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