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Homelessness Epidemic Forces De Blasio To Open 23 Shelters
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Nov 30, 2014
Modified Nov 30, 2014
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By
Christopher Robbins
Published Nov 30, 2014
Modified Nov 30, 2014
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To handle the 7% increase in the city's homeless population, Mayor de Blasio has opened 23 shelters since he took office. According to the Daily News, 20 of those shelters are for families with children, who comprise 24,760 of the 57,390 people in the shelter system.
The 7% increase follows a 13% increase the previous year. The shelters are being built so fast, public officials are often notified after construction begins.
“I have no problem with taking people off the street. But I have a problem with the process," Brooklyn Councilmember Chaim Deutsch says of the new shelter on Emmons Avenue in Sheepshead Bay, which now holds 21 families and will soon house 69. "There needs to be more community input."
Usually progressive Flatbush Councilmember Jumaane Williams has similar things to say about his district's new shelter on Glenwood Road: “We don’t want to make people feel unwelcome, but it’s too big, and it’s out of context with the neighborhood."
Complaining about "community input" and the aesthetic properties of emergency housing at a time when the shelter population is surging in part due to domestic violence is their way of appeasing the vocal NIMBYs in their districts.
Take the crowd outside a newly-opened Elmhurst shelter this past summer, which chanted "Pay your rent!" and "Get a job!" at the shelter residents.
“We cannot advance and grow as a city until all of our residents are able to obtain stable housing,” a DHS spokesperson said.
That growth presumably includes more permanent affordable housing, which under the mayor's plan would take 10 years and fall out of reach for many low-income families.
Tagged
affordable housing crisis
dhs
homeless
homelessness crisis
NIMBYs
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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