Homelessness in New York City: Problems, Policy, and Possible Solutions
By Crystal Lim and Maisha Kamal
Whether on subway platforms or near bus stations, the sight of a homeless man or woman curled up into a ball, looking ragged and disheveled, is one that every New Yorker has seen. Sometimes you’ll be sitting on the train when the familiar sound of “Ladies and gentleman, can I please have your attention,” will float through the air, and in that moment, you might wonder: Should I spare a dollar? Is the story even real?
In many cases, it is. The truth is, homelessness “has reached the highest levels since the Great Depression,”[1] with over 60,000 homeless people sheltered by the city, including 15,000 homeless families. The sheer magnitude of this homelessness has overcrowded shelters, as the municipal shelter system in 2016 saw more than 120,000 different homeless men, women, and children.[2] If not shelters, then subways, streets, or public spaces. Regardless of location, however, the issue is clear: homelessness is only growing, and not enough has been done to combat it. In fact, funding for the Department of Homeless Services is projected to continuously decrease until Fiscal Year 2021. The proposed allocation then is $758.8 million, as opposed to Fiscal Year 2017’s budget of $948 million.[3]
Furthermore, homelessness has evolved. It is no longer the same crisis as it was in the Hoovervilles of the 1930, and has changed drastically since first achieving public visibility in the 1980s. Nevertheless, the policy of the past can provide great insight into what works for the future.
Homelessness from Koch to Giuliani
In order to combat homelessness today or even in the future, it is important to understand policies from the past and why they failed or succeeded. In Ralph da Costa’s A Shelter is Not a Home Or Is It? Lessons from Family Homelessness in New York City, Costa analyzes the policies and programs put forth to combat homelessness from Mayor Edward Koch’s administration to the beginning of Michael Bloomberg’s mayoralty.
During Koch’s administration, the city had a bad habit of treating the symptoms of homelessness without targeting the root causes of it. Beginning in the 1970s, the city had started placing families into hotel rooms due to the lack of shelters. By 1983, 5 years into Koch’s 12-year administration, hotels used to house the homeless within New York City were overcrowded, dirty, and unsafe, which led to the placement of families in hotels in areas surrounding the city. This damaged interstate relations led the city to start turning local facilities into larger congregate family shelters with the expectation that people would only stay for a night of two. In reality, these congregate family shelters, later known as Tier 1 facilities, were much more chaotic and unsafe than anybody expected. They were the least desirable housing options for homeless families, providing no privacy or a sense of property.
The Legal Aid Society fought against city officials over the conditions of intake centers and shelters. Suing under the state Constitution, the Legal Aid Society was able to secure the right to shelter for every person. However, even under a court order it agreed to as part of a settlement, the city continues to implement
quick-fix solutions, operating on “deterrence theory,” which implied that if shelters were too comfy, people would want to stay in s
helters and/or become homeless rather than leave and be independent. Although this was widely disputed, the city continued to place more families into Tier 1 shelters.
By the end of 1986, the city started to scale back on Tier I housing and began placing more and more families into welfare hotels again. The use of hotels was widely scrutinized as they were a hotbed for criminal activity and cost the city about $72 million a year. Hotel owners were reaping tremendous profits from the city and even single room occupancy units (SROs) were converting into hotels for profit. Hotels had a lot of bargaining power, which made reforms increasingly difficult.
Toward the end of his administration, Koch began to push for more sustainable residential options. He implemented his “Housing New York” 10-year plan, which was estimated to cost $5.1 billion. He planned to build up New York City’s reserve of permanent low-income housing. He also included his Special Initiatives Programs (SIP), which wa
s a 4-year plan to completely rehabilitate 5,600 in rem apartments to low-income apartments. He also achieved some success creating “family centers,” or Tier II transitional facilities. These offered smaller, more home-like supportive living settings to help families move towards independent living. Tier II housing would soon become the most successful programs targeting homelessness.
When David Dinkins came into office in 1990, he continued Koch’s efforts and even saw SIP come to life. Dinkins created a new agency, the Department of Homeless Services (DHS), which came out of “The Way Home: A New Direction in Social Policy.” This plan stated that existing shelters were exacerbating the problem and recommended that the city provide housing and services. It also suggested contracting transitional housing to non-profit service providers and developing more small service-rich transitional facilities.
During Dinkins’ administration, he was also able to make improvements to the Emergency Assistance Rehousing Program (EARP). He added supplemental federal section 8 rental vouchers, which helped families pay the difference between 30% of their income and the fair market cut. At the same time, landlords who housed homeless families would receive cash bonuses.
Dinkins had arguably one of the more successful terms when it came to homelessness. Sadly, his improved EARP and Koch’s SIP could not keep pace with the growing amount of homeless apartment seekers. When Mayor Rudolph Giuliani came into office in 1994, his “get-tough” approach seemed to close the door for homelessness reform. Giuliani’s drive for efficiency led to many aggressive reforms to welfare programs. He created job centers and the Work Experience Program (WEP), which both sound great at face value. Giuliani had started creating stricter background checks and analysis of need. However, he also established harsher penalties for those who could not fulfil the welfare program within a certain time limit. The job centers were supposed to help people find jobs, but discouraged people from applying for aid and often disqualified people for employment programs. Meanwhile, WEP required welfare recipients to participate in city work programs at a quarter of regular pay in exchange for benefits, making it impossible to make a living.[4]
Homelessness Today
Today, homelessness stems primarily from a lack of affordable housing, as well as a shortage of housing assistance. According to a 2010 report from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, about 26.2% of those in shelters have a serious mental illness and 34.7% are substance abusers.[5] With New York City alone making up approximately 10% of the national homeless population, it is even more critical that services are being provided for those with mental illness or substance abuse problems. However, it is proving difficult to get everyone the services and support that they need. The Coalition for the Homeless, an advocacy group involved in the litigation regulating the shelter system, identified a number of triggering causes all related to housing that lead to homelessness: “eviction; doubled-up or severely overcrowded housing; domestic violence; job loss; and hazardous housing conditions.” Additionally, the National Coalition for the Homeless, citing studies by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, noted that “federal support for low-income housing has fallen 49% from 1980 to 2003,” and “about 200,000 rental housing units are destroyed annually.” Furthermore, while housing costs rise, the incomes of low-income individuals and families decline, heightening the disparity. An article from Commonweal Magazine pointed out (alluding to studies done by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University) that “falling income and rapidly rising housing costs have forced an unprecedented number of the lowest-income families—seven out of ten nationally—to spend half or more of their earnings on rent.”[6] When this system becomes unsustainable, people are forced to abandon their homes, and thus begin their shuffle through shelters and streets.
Mayor Bill de Blasio, who took office in 2014, admits that he has been struggling in the fight, as the number of homeless people reached a record high of 60,000 people.[7] During his first year in office, he was able to create 16 new shelters across New York City; however, in the eight months following, the city stopped opening shelters all together even as homelessness increased. After de Blasio appointed Steven Banks, a well-known advocate for the homeless, to be commissioner of the Department of Social Services in December 2015, the amount of homeless people living in hotels as a stopgap increased by almost 4,000 persons[8], with a daily spending of $400,000.[9] Once again, the same problems seen during Koch’s administration with the usage of hotels are seen during de Blasio’s administration. Hotels are unsafe, costly, and do not provide the services that families and individuals need to become independent again. With his new plans for combating homelessness, de Blasio is attempting to turn away from using hotel rooms as stopgaps and has begun taking a more serious and beneficial stance.
Problems with Policy: Understanding Homelessness and its Layers
In response, state and federal governments are, well, unresponsive—or focused on the wrong groups with their policies. In her book The Unequal Homeless: Men on the Streets, Women in their Place, author Joanne Passaro explored the world of homelessness through an anthropological lens, and concludes that legislation primarily aims to help homeless women and families, casting men, who statistically make up the majority of homeless people, aside. Logically, it is because families are perceived as a better risk due to the inherent support they can give each other; and women can may be viewed with the stereotypical gender traits of vulnerability and weakness. Collectively, this gives men fewer options.
These problems with policy, however, are not the only ones that exist. On the matter of housing assistance, demand grossly exceeds the supply: “Only about one-third of poor renter households receive a housing subsidy from the federal, state, or a local government.”[10] As a result, the remainder of families and individuals are placed on waiting lists, and during this time remain in the shelter system, hoping for a helping hand that may never come (such is the case often with three-quarter homes). Even more, the subsidy many homeless people receive ends up being inadequate, only providing a short-term solution.
On a deeper level, sometimes there exists a problem with the “home” homeless individuals are being sent back to, a concept Passaro touched upon in her study, drawing a distinction between “house” and “home.” A “home,” Passaro writes, alludes to something more abstract—a nuclear family, domestic affections, something to stay grounded to. A house, on the other hand, is simply an establishment, walls and all. The absence of a house is one that is more easily fixed, requiring, perhaps, a rotation in the shelter system and welfare to get back on your feet. But the absence of a home, on the other hand, is a problem much more difficult to alleviate. You can give a person all the resources in the world in the attempt to build a home for them, but if they cannot maintain it (or do not know how), it’s only a matter of time until they lose it and are back on the streets. After all, a large number of the homeless are fleeing domestic violence, so sending them back doesn’t do much good. Taken as a whole, this resulting multifaceted nature of the homelessness epidemic calls for a more nuanced approach to eradicating the problem, not something “one size fits all.”
Solutions
Primary solutions have stressed the importance of housing assistance, as many cases of homelessness come from evictions. Some have looked to improve the shelter system so it can better support the homeless population until permanent housing can be found. Others look directly at prevention and stability, focusing on grants and programs that will keep people in their homes, as well as give them the basic resources that can create a sustainable lifestyle.
Home Stability Support
Home Stability Support is the brainchild of Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi, a representative from the 28th Assembly District in Queens. It is structured as a rent supplement, specifically for “families and individuals who are eligible for public assistance benefits and who are facing eviction, homelessness, or loss of housing due to domestic violence or hazardous living conditions.”[11] The rent supplement would cover the difference between allocated shelter allowances and 85% of the fair market rent, as determined by the Housing and Urban Development agency.
Hevesi’s reasoning stems from the fact that, as mentioned above, shelter allowances have consistently been insufficient in terms of giving homeless men, women, or families the ability to get themselves back into the real world and make a life for themselves in the face of rising housing costs (shelter allowances range from $264-$447 per month when housing costs $658-$1608 a month).[12] To bolster this argument, Hevesi’s overview notes, “Two-thirds of public assistance households living in private housing have rents that exceed the amount of their shelter allowances.” [13] This eventually leads to 19,000 or more people becoming homeless each year, adding to the aforementioned total of at least 120,000.
Hevesi also says that this influx in the shelter system that follows eviction costs taxpayers billions of dollars every year, costs that can be easily reduced with the implementation of Home Stability Support. The program would cost $11,224 per year for a family with children,” when the current cost to provide temporary shelter is about $34,460.[14] For an individual, the program would cost $9,865 a year, when the current cost is $25,925.[15] In both cases, there is a dramatic cost decrease of over 30%, supporting the argument that Home Stability Support will benefit the homeless, the potentially homeless, and even the average New Yorker.
Supportive Housing
It is safe to say that Tier II housing was one of the more successful programs implemented by the government; however, it is only a small step in the right direction. Tier II shelters are typically similar to an apartment with a cooking space and bathroom for each family, with supplementary assistance for each family. However, a common complaint from residents is the rigid rules set by the Department of Homeless Services, which prevents the housing unit to be turned into a “home.” Remnants of deterrence theory can be seen in the rules and regulations of Tier II facilities, such as restrictions against moving in furniture, inviting guests (including extended family) over, and owning amenities such as microwaves, toasters, or hair dryers. In addition, inability to follow the shelter’s requirements known as “Client Responsibility,” due to whatever reason, will lead to a “non-compliant” label and eviction.[16]
The city needs to continue to invest in housing with the goal of rehabilitating families and providing supportive services. In Mayor de Blasio’s most recent report on homelessness, “Turning the Tide on Homelessness,” he begins to utilize supportive housing units.[17] With his plan, he wants to fund 15,000 additional supportive housing units within the next 15 years, which provides social services on site and subsidized rent. In addition to supportive housing, de Blasio is currently on track to providing 200,000 affordable units for eligible families and individuals.[18]
Mayor de Blasio has certainly taken the right steps towards mitigating homelessness; however, it still needs to go further. With both his preventative measures, such as rental assistance programs, and his intervention measures, he needs to start providing more social services that target the root cause of homelessness. It is understandably very difficult to find the balance between housing the homeless and preventing more families from entering the system. Ralph da Costa Nunez argues that the root cause of homelessness is not homes per say, but families not having the foundation for independent living. The city needs to provide more supportive living for those who are already homeless, so they can start rehabilitating. Rather than forcing them into homes without support, they need to be taught skills, such as work readiness and financial literacy. Teaching them viable skills will lower the recidivism rate. At the same time, there also needs to be preventative measures for those on the verge of facing homelessness. Those families, too, should be placed in skills training if there is a need for it (not just an unexpected event).[19]
While the city has taken great strides to mitigate homelessness, there is undoubtedly a lot more to be done, and it all begins with empathy. If we stop viewing homeless people as vagabonds on the streets and begin to understand their circumstances, as well as the actions that led to their homelessness in the first place, we can put into effect legislation that gives them the boost they desperately need to reintegrate and succeed in society. The time was then and, still, the time is now.
[1] Coalition for the Homeless, “Basic Facts About Homelessness: New York City.” Accessed March 11, 2017. http://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/basic-facts-about-homelessness-new-york-city/
[2] Ibid.
[3] New York City Office of Management and Budget. January 2017 Financial Plan Detail: Fiscal Years 2017 – 2021, January 2017. Accessed at nyc.gov.
[4] Ralph da Costa Nunez, “A Shelter Is Not a Home or Is It?: Lessons from Family Homelessness in New York City,” White Tiger Press, (January 2004).
[5] U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, The 2010 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress, (2010). Accessed at hudexchange.info.
[6] Paul Moses, “Still Two Cities: Mayor de Blasio & Homelessness,” Commonweal Magazine, May 19, 2016.
[7] William Neuman, “Confronting Surge in Homelessness, New York City Expands Use of Hotels,” New York Times, December 7, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/07/nyregion/homelessness-new-york-city-hotels.html.
[8] Nikita Stewart, “Steven Banks Was Hired to Stem New York’s Homelessness Crisis. It Didn’t Happen,” New York Times, October 25, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/26/nyregion/steven-banks-was-hired-to-stem-new-yorks-homelessness-crisis-it-didnt-happen.html.
[9] J. David Goodman and Nikita Stewart, “Mayor de Blasio Scrambles to Curb Homelessness After Years of Not keeping Pace,” New York Times, January 13, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/13/nyregion/mayor- de-blasio-scrambles-to-curb-homelessness-after-years-of-not- keeping pace.html?rref=collection%2Ftimes
topic%2FHomeless%20Persons.
[10] “Why Are People Homeless?” National Coalition for the Homeless, July 2009. Accessed April 3, 2017. http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/why.html.
[11] “Overview.” Home Stability Support. Accessed March 11, 2017. http://www.homestabilitysupport.com/about-overview.
[12] About the Plan.” Home Stability Support. Accessed March 11, 2017. http://www.homestabilitysupport.com/about-the-plan.
[13] “Overview.” Home Stability Support. Accessed March 11, 2017. http://www.homestabilitysupport.com/about-overview.
[14] “About the Plan.” Home Stability Support. Accessed March 11, 2017. http://www.homestabilitysupport.com/about-the-plan.
[15] Ibid.
[16] Abdulai Bah, “New York City’s homeless find little comfort in shelter system,” Al-Jazeera, March 30, 2015, http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/fault-lines/articles/2015/3/30/new-york-citys-homeless-find-more-discomfort-in-shelter-system.html
[17] City of New York, Turning the Tide on Homelessness in New York City, February 28, 2017, http://www1.nyc.gov/assets/dhs/downloads/pdf/turning-the-tide-on-homelessness.pdf.
[18] Ibid.
[19] Ralph da Costa Nunez, “Why New York City’s Homeless Family Policies Keep Failing,” February 24, 2016, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ralph-da-costa-nunez/why-new-york-citys-homele_b_9265684.html.
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