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Number of Homeless in NYC At Highest Point Since 1980s
By
Jen Chung
Published Jan 24, 2006
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Jan 24, 2006
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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Mayor Bloomberg went to Albany yesterday to complain about the new NY State budget for 2006 since Governor Pataki gave the ol' F-U to the city. However, something that the Mayor and the Governor can both be blamed for might very well be the state of the homeless situation in the city. The Coalition for the Homeless released their 2006 State of the Homeless Report which says homelessness has reached new highs since the 1980s:
Throughout the first half of the decade, an average of 32,609 New Yorkers slept in homeless shelters each night compared to an average of 23,295 in the 1980’s. In the same period, the number of homeless families in city shelters each night has nearly doubled from an average of 3,947 families in the 1980’s to a mid-decade average of 7,640 families in 2005. The most drastic increase came in the number of children seeking shelter. This decade - through 2005 - an average of 13,616 children are in New York City shelters each night, a 55 percent increase on the number of children who used city shelters on average throughout the 1990’s.
The Coalition of the Homeless goes on to say there are flaws with the mayor's homeless rent subsidy and that the lack of funding from city, state and federal resources to make housing affordable have been causing this problem to grow.
You can learn more about the Coalition for the Homeless' Campaign to get the city and state to increase support for homeless housing programs here and more about what you can do here.
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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