As housing for the poorest disappears, cost of shelter soars

whynot_31 · October 2015

de Blasio better hope Andrew Cuomo doesn't decide to pile on...

@mugofmead111 -
Too late.

quote:
"As the number of families and single adults in the city’s homeless shelters has soared, costs for running the shelters have climbed steeply as well. As this expense has grown, Albany has shifted an increasing share of the cost for sheltering homeless families onto federal funding streams, and a larger share of the cost for sheltering single adults onto the city’s own funds. If the de Blasio Administration succeeds in reducing the shelter population, the extent of city savings will depend in part upon how much of the decline is among families or single adults."

Doug Turetsky
Chief of Staff/Communications Director
NYC Independent Budget Office

full article:
http://www.ibo.nyc.ny.us/iboreports/albany-shifts-the-burden-as-the-cost-for-sheltering-the-homeless-rises-federal-city-funds-are-increasingly-tapped-october-2015.html

pdf version: http://www.ibo.nyc.ny.us/iboreports/albany-shifts-the-burden-as-the-cost-for-sheltering-the-homeless-rises-federal-city-funds-are-increasingly-tapped-october-2015.pdf

paraphrase of Cuomo by whynot_31:
"NYC, this homeless problem stems from your success at making your city attractive. Do not expect NYS to pay to address a problem that it did not create and is not an externality of its success"

whynot_31 · October 2015

NY1 put some work into their article:

http://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2015/10/15/report-analyzes-growing-cost-of-sheltering-the-homeless-.html

I smile broadly.

whynot_31 · October 2015

Mary Brosnahan is now being given the microphone:

http://nypost.com/2015/10/19/de-blasio-is-underestimating-the-homeless-population-advocate/

And, the City and State claim to be doing all they can:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/new-york-city-state-said-to-be-cooperating-on-homelessness-initiative-1445307693

whynot_31 · October 2015

DHS desperately tries to stem the demand for shelter, because it knows that it can not create enough supply.

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whynot_31 · November 2015

The Post runs a sloppy article that does not name its sources:

http://nypost.com/2015/11/01/fed-up-deputy-mayor-quits-after-being-ignored-by-de-blasio/

That's too bad.

whynot_31 · November 2015

Sunset Park resident is upset a local hotel and perceives it as being the only neighborhood having hotels converted.

http://www.brownstoner.com/blog/2015/11/homeless-shelter-operating-out-of-hotel-in-sunset-park/

Sorry, many mid range hotels have been converted to shelters. Many more will be converted by Jan 1.

DHS has been told it contract with hotels for singles. The maid service has been cancelled, and the maids laid off. However, the take home to the hotel operators is more than when the maids were employed.

....poverty pays.

whynot_31 · November 2015

Landlords to DHS: "You can keep your vouchers"

http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20151109/fort-greene/80-percent-of-homeless-rent-vouchers-arent-being-used-city-says

After Bloomberg cancelled similar vouchers (named "Advantage"), landlords were stuck with tenants who had no way to pay their rent. The landlords then had to go through the time consuming and expensive process of getting them evicted.

The landlords are not doing that again.

whynot_31 · November 2015

DeBlasio decides waiting for NYS to come through with significant $ for supportive housing is foolish.

He allocates billions for 15,000 additional units.

whynot_31 · November 2015

An article that accurately depicts the struggles of typical supportive housing provider in NYC.

...the kind that are not large, and are unable to hold big annual galas with famous wealthy people to subsidize their programs.

whynot_31 · December 2015

The city passes laws to make landlords accept "program money", but the landlords say "there is no way you can catch and prosecute us all"

whynot_31 · December 2015

Mary Brosnahan is now being given the microphone:

http://nypost.com/2015/10/19/de-blasio-is-underestimating-the-homeless-population-advocate/

And, the City and State claim to be doing all they can:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/new-york-city-state-said-to-be-cooperating-on-homelessness-initiative-1445307693

To which she responds, no you are not.

whynot_31 · December 2015

Unlike most in the media, she understands the complexity of the issues involved, and that this problem has been brewing for quite sometime.

http://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/reality-check-current-state-of-homelessness/

pragmaticguy · December 2015

You know....while 53,000 people cited as being homeless is certainly a large number, in a city of 7,000,000 it comes out to seven-tenths of one percent (.007). In any other circumstance this would be a statistical non-event. I don't know, but I think you'd be hard pressed to find better numbers in any major city or even some rural areas.

whynot_31 · December 2015

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City

NYC's population is about 8.5M, so the % is even lower.

What I have been amazed at is the seeming reluctance to tie the increase in street homelessness (often single men) to the downsizing of Rikers Island.

The police have been told to reduce their enforcement of quality of life offenses (loitering, littering, open alcohol, etc), to reduce the load on the court and penal system.

As a result, men who would usually be spending part of their lives in this part of the revolving door, are not.

...while I believe this was a poor use of criminal justice resources, it fascinates me that the advocates for the homeless don't discuss this phenomena more.

In some ways, we are actually seeing progress. Being on the street may be more humane than incarcerated for a petty offense.

whynot_31 · December 2015

Time for the advocates to sue?: http://pix11.com/2015/12/23/do-the-homeless-have-a-case-in-lawsuit-against-nyc/

pragmaticguy · December 2015

I'm still waiting for the day these advocates take a few of these folks home with them, just for a few days until they can get into a shelter or some sort of temporary housing but none of them ever will. And I can't believe that 53,000 people have no relatives they can stay with even temporarily just to get off the streets in the winter.

But I do agree that outside of trash and stuff that the homeless pick up to try and sell, the city should not have discarded personal items.

whynot_31 · December 2015

Many of the 50,00 have been in and out of shelters (and jail) for years, grew up in the foster care system and have few ties to the outside world.

The advocates have the law on their side, they can force the city to do what no one else is willing to do.

pragmaticguy · December 2015

Years ago there used to be a tent city at the foot of the Manhattan Bridge on Canal St. Must have been at least 25 families there. One guy had a tepee that was about 15 feet high. Was there for at least 4 or 5 years. Giuliani got rid of it. It was like a "Hooverville".

booklaw · December 2015

The percentages may be extremely low, but the misery of homelessness, especially for families, and especially in winter (if winter ever comes!) is extremely high. 50,000 people should not have to endure such misery.

whynot_31 · December 2015

Unlike single adults, the city has the ability to effectively compel homeless families into shelters: The consequence is foster care for the children.

Meanwhile, single adults are allowed to make decisions that hurt (largely) only themselves.

ehgee · December 2015

pragmaticguy said:

Years ago there used to be a tent city at the foot of the Manhattan Bridge on Canal St. Must have been at least 25 families there. One guy had a tepee that was about 15 feet high. Was there for at least 4 or 5 years. Giuliani got rid of it. It was like a "Hooverville".

Until the construction for the mini-park started earlier this year, there were often homeless men there off-and-on. And I was stopped on my bike commute once while a huge herd of cops blocked off the bike lane to flush out the guy living in the bridge girders.

whynot_31 · January 2016

Brownstoner recently complied a list of local shelters:

Brooklyn Community District 8: Crown Heights, Prospect Heights

Bedford-Atlantic Armory Men’s Shelter (1322 Bedford Avenue) — Shelter for singles, 350 beds.
Kianga House (1504 Bedford Avenue) — Family homeless facility, 17 family units.
St. Johns Fam Residence (1630 St. Johns Place) — Family homeless facility, 97 family units.
Clermont Family Residence (1270 Pacific Street) — Family homeless facility, 40 family units.
Eldert Family Residence (1270 Pacific Street) — Family homeless facility, 8 family units.
Kingston Family Residence (64 Kingston Avenue) — Family homeless facility, 46 family units.

Brooklyn Community District 9: Crown Heights, Prospect Lefferts Gardens

Kingsboro MICA Program (681 Clarkson Avenue) — Shelter for singles, 143 beds.
Kingsboro Star Program (681 Clarkson Avenue) — Shelter for singles, 221 beds.
Monica House II (534 Eastern Parkway) — Family homeless facility, 45 family units

http://www.brownstoner.com/blog/2016/01/shelter-brooklyn-homeless-facilities-map

crownheightster · January 2016

I wonder if they would ever do a listing of halway houses and 3/4 houses.

whynot_31 · January 2016

Such facilities are not closely monitored, and often move. Hence, it would be very hard to create such a list.

http://www.brooklynian.com/discussion/38240/here-are-some-of-the-worst-rooms-for-rent-in-nyc

whynot_31 · January 2016

One of the largest shelter providers in the city, the DOE Fund, states we are not making progress, and shelter -alone- is not a solution. http://nypost.com/2016/01/25/citys-homeless-crisis-plan-isnt-sustainable-report/

pragmaticguy · January 2016

Key quote in that article, "if you're able to work you should work...". Problem is, many of these people no longer want to. They just take "early retirement" and let the rest of the taxpayers take care of them.

whynot_31 · January 2016

The DOE Fund is of the perspective that the vast majority of people in its shelters can and should work.

...they are the people who wear the bright blue jump suits and clean the streets in midtown.

Such employment programs help the DOE fund to:

1. Keep its shelters empty during the day.

2. Teach residents basic employment skills.

3. Ensure that everyone that has a better alternative to said working and living arrangements, avails themselves of it.

pragmaticguy · January 2016

Cleaning the streets is not the kind of gainful employment that is going to get these people out of shelters. It's a good make-work project but really it seems to be benefiting the city more than those it's supposed to be helping.

whynot_31 · January 2016

The parks department regularly hires graduates from the DOE fund, and pays them enough to move out of the shelter system.

pragmaticguy · January 2016

I stand corrected but I wonder how come none of those graduates are ever cited in the stories about how there's not enough being done to help these people. I would love to read a few quotes from the graduates not only because there would seem to prove there's light at the end of the tunnel but also as encouragement to those that donate and those that are in the program now.

As housing for the poorest disappears, cost of shelter soars

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