If you live in New York, you have likely noticed this: the number of people living on the streets and in the subway of the city has increased, reaching the highest level in nearly two decades, according to the results of an annual survey released by the city itself on Thursday (13).
The survey, conducted in January, noted about 4,140 people living homeless, a 2.4% increase from the 4,042 last year and the highest number since 2005, when the city began conducting the surveys.
The cause: Immigrants are not the reason, the city says.
The increase comes at a time when the city has struggled to provide shelter for up to 70,000 immigrants every night.
But the city’s social services commissioner, Molly Wasow Park, said in an interview that the city has not found “any systemic increase in the number of homeless people seeking asylum.”
Last month, the city began imposing a 30-day limit on the time that single adult immigrants can stay in shelters.
The city has been making efforts to shelter people
The increase occurred even as the city intensified efforts to move homeless people into permanent and subsidized housing. That is, placing them in so-called supportive housing, which includes on-site social services, or in private or semi-private rooms in shelters with fewer rules, rather than restrictive shelters.
Since Mayor Eric Adams took office in January 2022, the city has moved 2,000 homeless people into permanent housing. This includes 500 people whom outreach workers connected with in the subway, where the mayor is making a major effort to remove the homeless. The availability of less restrictive shelter beds has grown under Adams’ leadership, to 4,000 beds, and the city plans to open another 500 of these beds by the end of the year.
Where the homeless are
Compared to 2023, the number of people living on the streets increased by 46% in Queens and more than doubled in Staten Island, to about 100 people, up from about 40 last year. In Brooklyn, the number fell by 12%. In Manhattan, where most of the homeless people are located, the number increased by 4%.
Correct statistic?
Critics often question the reliability of the survey, known as the HOPE estimate, which is federally and nationally mandated. In New York, it is conducted by a mix of volunteers and workers. By federal decree, it takes place on one night, during the coldest time of the year. (The weather on the night of the 2024 survey was nearly identical to the weather in 2023.)
Giffen said the HOPE estimate undercounts the homeless population so drastically that it is “nonsensical.”
Another study of the homeless shows a sharper increase than the HOPE estimate: the number for 2024 for the quarter ending March 31 increased by 15% compared to the same period in 2023 and rose by 85% from 2022, when Mayor Adams took office.
Source: The New York Times