Given so much push back on placement of homeless shelters, the latest being on Upper West Side and West Harlem, we thought some facts and research material would be helpful.
There are about 60,000 individuals who do not have a permanent home in NYC. The majority of these are families who typically enter shelter when they can no longer afford to pay rent due to job loss or other hardship.
Times are tough. We encourage all districts to help take care of their own residents who fall into hard times. Unfortunately, “most homeless families are not sheltered in the communities they come from.” Currently, only about 50% of children are placed in shelters in areas where they have been going to school. In fact, there are 12 districts in NYC with no family shelters at all.
Regarding single homeless adults, “Research shows that, compared to homeless families, homeless single adults have much higher rates of serious mental illness, addiction disorders, and other severe health problems.” These adults should be placed in small settings fairly distributed in areas where the individual used to reside, and with adequate social services to support them.
Times are tough. Let’s all help each other while keeping fair share and equity in mind. We need to strike a delicate balance for the sake of our beloved NYC. Click here to see a list of homeless shelters and methadone clinics in Harlem.
See these 2 links for more info and our quotes:
https://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/basic-facts-about-homelessness-new-york-city/
https://www.icphusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Shelter-DynamicsFinal07819.pdf
SHELTER AND HOMELESS STATISTICS AND BUILDING PLAN
- 2021: Shelters purchased by the city to end reliance on cluster sites (CityLimits)
- 2017: Mayor’s building plan for shelters (goodnewsnetwork)
- 2016-2019: NYC: In 12 years, NYC homeless population surged 40% from 2011. The City counted almost 4000 people sleeping on the street and there is a 50-60,000 homeless population. Mayor launched turn the tide campaign to set up 130 shelters in the city – (Daily Mail Online, nydailynews.com, Curbed NY)
BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON NIMBY ATTEMPTS TO PUSH BACK ON PLACEMENT OF HOMELESS SHELTERS
- 2021 Jan: West Harlem pushes back on homeless shelter on 145th st. (Patch)
- 2020 Dec: NYC Districts pushes back on housing affordable housing planned by Mayor – (nytimes.com)
- 2020 Dec: NYC Upper West Side: The residents in Upper West Side Lucerne homeless shelter filed a law suit on decision to relocate them – (nydailynews.com)
- 2020 Nov: NYC Downtown: Downtown residents filed a law suit against movement of homeless shelter to downtown hotel – (nydailynews.com)
- 2019 Nov: NYC Ozone Park: 500 residents pushed back on new homeless shelter. 1 man went on hunger strike! – (citylimits.org)
- 2018 Jul: NYC Midtown: Billionaires Row group sues city over homeless shelter plan – (Nydailynews.com, Fox News)
- 2016: Central Harlem at 136th Street pushed back on another homeless shelter (Medium.com)
ADVOCACY FOR SAFETY ISSUES IN SHELTERS IN NYC AND HARLEM
- 2012: NYC Harlem: Wards Island Homeless population of 1000 has one bus M35 and the only drop off point is… 125 street and Lexington. The City Limits claimed many of these men are ex convicts and sex offenders – (citylimits.org)
- 2019 Sept: NYC Harlem Wards Island: Wards Island Homeless Shelter managed by Andrew Cuomo’s sister gets new 4 year renewal worth 45 million despite 22 code citation- (THE CITY)
- 2019 Dec: Description of the medical challenges faced by residents in homeless shelters in New York City – (The New York Medical Journal)
- 2017: 44 year old man stabbed to death in Central Harlem’s shelter by BRC (CBS news)
- 2016: To mask the unsafe conditions in shelters, the city redefined how incidents are tracked in the system (NY Daily News)
- 2016: 62 year old man stabbed to death in East Harlem’s shelter boulevard for single homeless men with mental issues (NBC)