Our data originates from Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests sent to New York State and New York City agencies. Our analysis and visualizations corroborate what is already obvious to the residents of our neighborhoods: Harlem and East Harlem are unjustly burdened with an over-concentration of social programs, which have been adamantly rejected by wealthier neighborhoods.
Click on the graphics below to learn more, or download our FOIL data summary here. Click here for additional references related to drug treatment and homeless shelters locational issues.
1. Unequal Treatment Distribution
18% of all methadone patients are sent to Harlem and East Harlem for treatment
2. PROGRAMS IN HARLEM SERVE THE NY REGION, NOT OUR COMMUNITY
75% of patients treated with methadone in Harlem do not reside in Harlem or East Harlem
3. DRUG TREATMENT PROGRAMS CLOSING AND SHRINKING
NYC lost 19% of its drug treatment capacity over 9 years
6. Supportive Housing
Inequitable distribution of Supportive Housing by Department of Social Service
Notable Posts
1. Drug treatment programs in historically redlined districts
Drug treatment programs are located in redlined districts typically neighborhoods of color
2. Drug treatment programs in high crime areas
Excessive density of drug treatment programs in high crime areas exacerbate local crime rates
3. Drug treatment programs located near our schools
Excessive concentration of drug treatment programs means they are placed near our schools
See additional posts related to data analysis:
- Redlining and Drug Treatment Programs
- Overdose Deaths Linked to Large Methadone Centers
- Hospital Closures and Racial Correlation
- Single Adult Sheltered Individuals Increase
- Single Adult Shelter Density
Data Sources
OTP Capacity Data from OASAS FOIL request by Yoni Pielet in 2019: OCR and Analysis. This dataset lists OASAS-certified programs and their patient capacities.
OTP Patient Residences from OASAS FOIL request. We have two versions of this dataset:
- FOIL request in 2018 by Candace Arrington covering calendar year 2017: Original PDF, OCR and Analysis
- FOIL request in 2020 by Shawn Hill covering March 2019-February 2020: Original PDF, OCR and Analysis
These datasets count the number of “admissions” to OASAS treatment programs, by program and by patient’s provided residential zip code. For patient confidentiality the exact counts are redacted for program-zip code pairs with 5 or fewer patients, and residential zip codes are not necessarily reliable or current.
OTP Enrollment by Year from OASAS FOIL request by Eva Chan in 2020: Original PDF, OCR and Analysis. This dataset lists the average daily enrollments for OASAS programs in 2010, 2015, and 2019.
Shelter Census Data from NYC Open Data.
- Monthly census of shelter population: Dataset, Analysis. This dataset lists the census populations of NYC shelters over time since mid-2018. Accessed Nov 2022.
- Monthly counts of associated addresses for shelter residents: Dataset
Overdoses by Neighborhood in 2020, from NYC DOHMH: PDF Data, PDF Report.
State Opioid Dashboard: The NY State Department of Health Opioid Dashboard (link) data exports provide:
- Opioid Burden by Zip Code from the “Sub-county Data” export, accessed November 2022. Excel File, Source Website, Documentation
- Overdose Trends by County from the “Country Trend Data” export, accessed November 2022. Spreadsheet, Source Website.