East Harlem is the most shelter-overburdened neighborhood in all of New York City. In addition to experiencing and struggling with the community-wide impact of below-average health and education outcomes, New York City has packed East Harlem with single adult shelters.
New York City’s Department of Social Services and the Department of Homeless Services have repeatedly placed their most vulnerable clients in communities that are, themselves, struggling on many fronts. Consciously or unconsciously, NYC’s Department of Social Services reinforces structural oversaturation by failing to equitably locate single adult shelters in shelter deserts (grey areas in the map, above).