Hard-hitting Ad Campaign Highlights NYC’s Skyrocketing Child Homelessness

For Immediate Release: November 27th, 2012
Contact: Dan Levitan, BerlinRosen, 646-200-5315, Dan@Berlinrosen.com

HARD-HITTING AD CAMPAIGN HIGHLIGHTS NYC’S SKYROCKETING CHILD HOMELESSNESS

Coalition for the Homeless Ads Feature Faces of New York’s Homeless Kids

NEW YORK – The Coalition for the Homeless unveiled a new public awareness campaign today, drawing attention to New York City’s record and soaring levels of child homelessness. The city is on track to see more than 20,000 children sleeping in homeless shelters each night – a number many believe will continue to rise as a result of the City’s failed homelessness policies.

The campaign ads are based upon a previous series of public education ads from 2011 when there were (a then record) 16,000 children in emergency shelter. Renowned photographer Albert Watson’s stark photos of homeless New York children will run with a stirring call to action:

Last year, a record 16,000 kids were homeless each night.
Tonight, it’s 20,000. 
Some records should be fixed, not broken. 
To help: CoalitionForTheHomeless.org

The ads, which were designed pro-bono by Adrenaline, will appear in over $250,000 worth of donated space in hundreds of phone booths, elevator screens, subway platforms and taxis, and can be viewed on the Coalition’s website:
www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/20ThousandAdCampaign

“We believe that the people of this city need to know that City Hall has basically thrown up its hands and walked away from this problem, leaving 20,000 kids languishing in homeless shelters,” said Mary Brosnahan, President and CEO of the Coalition for the Homeless. “Twenty thousand homeless kids in NYC is unprecedented and unacceptable, especially because we know the proven, cost-effective and humane solutions.”

Under the Bloomberg Administration, New York City has cut off virtually all Federal housing assistance – access to public housing and rental vouchers for homeless children and families. Last year Mayor Bloomberg ended his “Advantage” rental subsidy program that, while flawed, was the only path out of shelter and into permanent housing for homeless families. Bloomberg is the first mayor in modern history to have no housing program for homeless families.

“At the start of his first term, Mayor Bloomberg boldly promised to reduce homelessness by two-thirds. But by abandoning the approaches successfully used by Mayors Koch, Dinkins and Giuliani, Mayor Bloomberg has led us into a new era – one with the largest homeless population in New York City since the Great Depression,” added Brosnahan. “Unless we quickly change course, the lasting legacy of the Bloomberg Administration will be a broken homeless shelter system overflowing with children.”