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Department of Homeless Services Splurges On Expensive Ergonomic Chairs And IPads
By
Emma Whitford
Published Apr 13, 2015
Modified Apr 14, 2015
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By
Emma Whitford
Published Apr 13, 2015
Modified Apr 14, 2015
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The downtown offices of the New York City Department of Homeless Services at 33 Beaver Street have recently been decked out with ergonomic desk chairs, iPad airs, 3-D televisions, and larger conference rooms as part of a $600,000 "upgrade," DNAInfo reports.
According to documents acquired by DNAInfo through a Freedom of Information Law request:
In February 2015, DHS picked up pricey electronics, including two Samsung 75-inch Smart LED 3-D televisions from B&H at a cost of $3,297.99 each after a $500 factory rebate, according to the receipt.
They also ordered 12 19-inch Samsung LED televisions worth $174.14 each, and 11 Samsung 28-inch LED TVs worth $308 each, records show.
In June 2014 and February 2015, DHS ordered 16 AirGrid back chairs with headrests that set them back $429 each, part of the $70,000 spent on office furniture.
And in December 2014, DHS purchased 30 iPad Airs with 16 GB of memory and 13 additional 32-gigabyte iPads in January, records show.
For the DHS, the timing of this report couldn't be worse. About a month ago, the Department of Investigation released an ugly report detailing conditions at 25 homeless shelters across the city. Over the course of a year, DOI investigators found "extensive vermin infestations," as well as inactive smoke and carbon monoxide detecters and blocked means of egress. In the end, 621 building, housing and fire safety violations were issued as a result of the investigation.
The conditions in these shelter apartments are particularly disturbing, considering how much money the DHS has sunk into them. For example, the DOI inspected 11 Tier II shelters (the classification for shelters that service 10 families or more) last year, and found the average cost per family, per night to be $110.76. That comes out to $3,322.80 in DHS funds per apartment, per month, shelled out to subpar shelter providers.
Meanwhile, the Beaver Street office renovations and technology upgrades come out of an $11 million budget intended to reduce the number of New Yorkers living in city shelters. A number that, let's not forget, has ballooned considerably in the last year, from 50,000 to 60,000. Of those 60,000 who slept in city shelters last year, 25,000 were children.
According to DNAInfo, the majority of this $11 million has been used to hire 154 new administrative workers for the DHS, tasked with finding permanent homes for the homeless.
For their own part, the DHS has argued that the office renovations are justified. For example, the 3-D TVs have been installed in a conference room, and are used for teleconferences with staff in other city offices. Renovations over the past year have also made the offices more comfortable for the 135-person staff.
We have reached out to the DHS for comment and will update with any new information.
UPDATE: A DHS spokesperson told us by e-mail, "Every dollar DHS spends is targeted towards tackling the complex issue of homelessness. We are focused on preventing homelessness before it begins, reducing the population in our shelters, and moving shelter clients back into permanent and affordable housing. Interpreting our efforts as anything other than that is completely false.”
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