Posted on April 26, 2011 by PATRICK MARKEE The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has released new data confirming that homelessness worsened significantly between 2009 and 2010 in New York City and throughout the rest of the state. Coalition for the Homeless released a briefing paper today that summarizes the findings of the HUD reports, which echo the findings of the Coalition’s recently-released “State of the Homeless 2011” report. The new briefing paper can be found here, the recent HUD reports about New York are available here, and below is the news release about the alarming new Federal data. For Immediate Release: April 26, 2011 HUD DATA CONFIRMS IT: NYC HOMELESSNESS ROSE DRAMATICALLY ADVOCATES BLAST BLOOMBERG’S “FAILED POLICIES” NEW YORK – New data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development confirm the findings of the State of the Homeless report released earlier this month by the Coalition for the Homeless:homelessness climbed dramatically in 2010, especially the number of homeless families. “The new data from HUD confirms the ugly truth,” said Patrick Markee, Senior Policy Analyst at the Coalition. “Homelessness in New York City is at record levels, a direct result of the failed policies of the Bloomberg administration. By refusing to move homeless families into affordable, permanent housing, the City has packed shelters to the breaking point while denying the homeless any real hope of rebuilding their lives.” The Coalition’s “State of the Homeless” report details the ongoing failure of the City’s Advantage program — a time-limited rent subsidy that has returned thousands of families back to the shelter system. The HUD data presents more evidence of Advantage’s failure, showing a 6.5% increase in the number of homeless people in shelters from 2009 to 2010. The HUD data also show: · Between 2009 and 2010, the number of homeless people in shelters throughout New York state rose by 7.0 percent. · Over the same period, the number of homeless families with children rose at a faster rate both in New York City and statewide. · In New York City, the number of homeless families with children increased by 7.3 percent. · In New York state, the number of homeless families with children increased by 8.0 percent. The Coalitions full analysis of the HUD data is available here.
