Crisis Looming for NYC Homeless System

by Shannon Moriarty · 2009-10-16 10:37:00 UTC
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The New York City homeless shelter population has hit an all-time high. Over 120,000 people sought shelter in NYC during the past year and 39,000 homeless people check into NYC shelters each night. With cold weather on the horizon, the number of people seeking shelter inevitable increases. What will this mean for a city already struggling to meet the current need?

This new information comes from a report published this week by the Coalition for the Homeless, a NYC homeless advocacy group. It said that the city has not seen such high levels of homelessness since the Great Depression. These alarming numbers come despite Mayor Bloomberg's commitment to ending homelessness "as we know it" back in 2004. Despite this commitment, the Coalition points out that homelessness has increased 45 percent since Bloomberg took office eight years ago.

Then again, pointing fingers during a time like this is useless. New York City has a crisis on its hands. If shelters were filled to the brim at the end of the summer, it's unsettling to think about the possibility of running out of shelter space come winter. This is not a far-fetched possibility, given that cold weather often sends people to shelters in droves.

Stop squabbling - politics can wait. It's time to start thinking about how to save lives this winter.

Image: Magnetomotive

Shannon Moriarty has worked in various homeless shelters and service organizations around the country. She is a graduate student studying housing and urban policy at Tufts University.
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