New Report: Mayor de Blasio’s Efforts on Street Homelessness Fall Short

The mayor’s approach focuses on the sheltered, rather than street, homeless

NEW YORK, NY  — According to recent polls, the majority of New Yorkers believe that the city’s homeless population has increased under Mayor de Blasio. When the public expresses concern about “the homeless,” they are most often referring to those they see sleeping and panhandling on the streets and in the subways—the street homeless population. But the mayor has focused far more efforts and resources on the sheltered, rather than street, homeless. In addition to exposing this gap between what the public wants and what the city is doing, a new report by Manhattan Institute senior fellow Stephen Eide offers nine recommendations for improving New York City’s homelessness policy.

According to Eide, “Inadequate attention to street homelessness ensures that Mayor de Blasio will continue to play catch up with public opinion, a position that no mayor, on any issue, wants to be in.”

In order to address more effectively the homelessness issue in New York City, the report offers the following recommendations:

1. Focus more efforts on street homelessness.
2. Continue policing policies designed to discourage the street homeless from remaining outside the shelter or treatment systems.
3. Increase housing supply by easing regulations.
4. Do not grant those in family homeless shelters preferred access to public housing.
5. Drop plans to spend $12 million on anti-eviction legal services unless it can be demonstrated that the policy will reduce homelessness.
6. Improve the method of counting the street homeless population.
7. Authorize involuntary inpatient commitment for the severely mentally ill.
8. The Human Resources Administration should revise its policy of emphasizing training and education and its relaxed enforcement of program requirements for public-assistance recipients.
9. Moderate plans to develop supportive housing and refocus the purpose on addressing severe mental illness.

Click here to read the full report.