Posted on December 23, 2015 by Giselle Routhier Last Sunday, the Daily News ran a piece by editorial board member Alyssa Katz in which she discusses the current state of homelessness in NYC and Mayor de Blasio’s response. The piece contains a number of notable errors about the issue that deserve clarification: Causes of record homelessness: Katz ignores the disastrous policies of the previous administration that led to a massive increase in homelessness in the ten years before Mayor de Blasio took office. Indeed, the largest increase in modern mass homelessness – a crisis that has spanned the administrations of five mayors beginning with Ed Koch – occurred under the administration of Michael Bloomberg. Under his tenure, the shelter census ballooned from 31,000 in 2002 to more than 53,000 when he left office at the end of 2013 – a staggering 71 percent increase. Indeed, during Mayor Bloomberg’s last three years in office, the shelter census rose by 36 percent as a direct result of his elimination of the programs that helped families move from shelter into permanent housing. Katz also errs when she writes that the core of the crisis when de Blasio took office was a rising single adult population. In fact, homeless families make up 77 percent of the homeless shelter population, and their numbers were increasing at a greater rate than single adults in the six months leading up to de Blasio’s inauguration. The critical role of permanent housing options: Katz argues that the provision of permanent housing will incentivize otherwise housed families to become homeless. This myth has long been refuted by academic experts[1], and is even refuted by the very IBO report she cites.[2] The IBO report released in 2012 actually finds that referrals to permanent housing, such as public housing and section 8 vouchers, reduce the shelter census and save taxpayer dollars. This is why the Coalition urged Mayor de Blasio to reverse Mayor Bloomberg’s harmful policy of denying homeless families access to these critical housing resources. Katz cites a flawed figure that does not compare shelter entrants under the period when priority referrals were in place to the period when they were not. With this important distinction in mind, the number of shelter entrants in the years when priority access to permanent housing was cut off for homeless families (2006-2013) was on average 64 percent higher than in years when these resources were made available. Harmful practices that deter shelter entrants: Katz argues that a proposal made under Mayor Bloomberg to institute a rigorous application process for single adults, which could deny access to life-saving shelter, is a good idea. This argument makes little sense and indeed has particularly dangerous implications. In 2011, a deputy commissioner under Mayor Bloomberg estimated that at least 30 percent of all sheltered homeless single adults suffer from mental illness. Furthermore, in hearings on this specific proposal, Bloomberg officials admitted that individuals would be denied shelter even if a family member formally refused to take them in. So, where does such a proposal leave homeless single adults..? With no option but the streets. The issue is admittedly complex. With so much misinformation out there – and with lives literally at stake – it’s important that New Yorkers know the facts. While the shelter system under Mayor de Blasio is still rife with problems – problems that must be addressed immediately – his administration laudably embraced the proven housing-based solutions to homelessness that his predecessor had abandoned. Among the steps that deserve praise are: A $60 million investment in homelessness prevention resources, including anti-eviction legal services; Restoration of priority access to federally-funded resources like public housing and Section 8 vouchers; The creation of an array of rent subsidy programs targeted to specific populations within the shelter system; An historic commitment to create 15,000 units of supportive housing – which gives homeless people with mental illness and other disabilities a way to move from the streets into permanent housing with on-site support services. Only by increasing prevention and permanent housing will we be able to bring an end the city’s homelessness crisis. But the City cannot win this fight on its own: The full partnership of the State is crucial. Governor Cuomo must step up and contribute State resources to match the City’s efforts, including at least a one-for-one match of Mayor de Blasio’s 15,000 supportive housing units in NYC – a commitment necessary to match the true scale of need. [1] Cragg, M., O’Flaherty, B. (1999). Do Homeless Shelter Conditions Determine Shelter Population? The Case of the Dinkins Deluge. Retrieved online: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094119098921283 [2] City of New York Independent Budget Office. (2012). Retrieved online: http://www.ibo.nyc.ny.us/iboreports/dhspriorityletter61412.pdf
