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De Blasio Unveils Plan to Confront Homelessness De Blasio Calls for ‘Blood-and-Guts’ War on Homelessness. Is His Gutsy Enough?
(about 1 hour later)
Late last year, Mayor Bill de Blasio spoke of owning the homelessness problem in New York City, promising a “much more comprehensive vision” to address the growing crisis. Mayor Bill de Blasio put it bluntly on Tuesday, saying he could not see an immediate end to New York City’s homelessness crisis and that a “blood-and-guts war strategy” was needed to attack it.
That vision, contained in a 128-page plan released on Tuesday, delivered a surprisingly stark assessment of the problem, and set modest yet realistic expectations for the coming years. Whether his strategy, contained in a 128-page plan, is gutsy enough to make a dent in the problem is not yet known.
The mayor pledged to reduce the number of people living in the city’s primary shelter system by 2,500 people over five years — a four percent decrease from the 60,000 people now living in the main shelter system. But Mr. de Blasio, in Manhattan addressing an audience of nonprofit leaders who operate homeless shelters on behalf of the city, delivered a sober assessment of the problem, saying it was time to accept that the current crisis had grown too large to expect a significant reduction anytime soon.
Addressing a crowd of nonprofit leaders who operate shelters on behalf of the city on Tuesday afternoon, Mr. de Blasio mapped out his plan to open 90 shelters, many of which could open in the Bronx and Queens, and to expand 30 existing shelters. The build-out of what his administration is calling “high-quality” shelters would eliminate the use of costly, impractical hotel rooms and so-called cluster housing by 2023. The mayor vowed to reduce the number of people living in the city’s primary shelter system by 2,500 people over five years — a 4 percent decrease from the 60,000 people now in that system.
The latest plan, keenly focused on the city’s shelter system, appeared to be an acknowledgment by Mr. de Blasio that the current crisis has grown too big to expect an end anytime in the near future. The book begins with an admission in its opening pages: “We recognize that none of these measures are sufficient to address this crisis. There are no silver bullets here. We will not solve this crisis overnight. It will be a long, hard fight.” “Is it everything we want it to be?” Mr. de Blasio said. “No. It’s the honest goal. This is what we can tell the people of New York City can be done and can be sustained.”
About 18,500 people — nearly a third of the population in the main shelter system — live in hotel rooms and clusters, or apartments in private buildings that are generally in poor condition isolated from critical assistance that could put a homeless family or individual on the path to permanent housing. The modest target and frank comments were a new tack for the mayor, who entered office in 2014 with an ambitious agenda to narrow the gap between New York’s rich and poor and to cut the number of people in the main shelter system, which was a record 53,000 people at the time.
That path has been narrowed by a lack of affordable housing and low wages that have not kept pace with out-of-reach rents, exacerbating a crisis in a city that is under legal obligation to temporarily house people who say they are homeless. Now, as he seeks re-election, Mr. de Blasio is shifting his focus toward moving homeless people out of hotels and so-called cluster apartments, and into more stable shelters where they can receive effective services and get on a path to permanent housing.
The Bronx is home to 215 cluster sites, three quarters of all such sites throughout the city, while half of the 80 commercial hotels used to house homeless people are in Queens, according to the book, called “Turning the Tide on Homelessness in New York City.” Communities in those two boroughs should expect new shelters to open there, though Mr. de Blasio has the challenge of convincing nonprofits, already upset about what they say are low rates and delayed payments, to buy into operating the additional shelters. “It’s taken us three years to realize some of these hard truths,” he said. “There was a lot of trial and error.”
The intention also will most likely be met with community resistance, particularly in Queens, where civic groups in Maspeth successfully blocked the conversion of a Holiday Inn by pressuring the hotel owner with frequent demonstrations. The groups also organized bus rides to Brooklyn to protest in front of the home of Steven Banks, the commissioner of the Department of Social Services, who is in charge of managing homelessness. The mayor urged the public to be more compassionate, emphasizing that the vast majority of those living in shelters are families with children, not the stereotypical person on the street. He described them as Everyman riding the subway, in line at the grocery store and on the way to school and work. “They don’t wear a badge that says, ‘I’m homeless,’” he said.
Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley, who represents Maspeth and who sued the city over the Holiday Inn conversion, cautioned against a shift of focus from affordable housing to shelters. Mr. de Blasio’s appeal laid the groundwork for what is sure to be a fight over the placement of new shelters in neighborhoods wary of welcoming social service facilities.
“I think that the mayor needs to be aggressive like that when it comes to affordable housing and permanent housing,” she said. “The vast majority of the families in the homeless shelter system don’t want to live in a shelter, they want to live in a permanent home.” The plan unveiled on Tuesday calls for opening new 90 shelters, with many potentially in the Bronx and Queens, and for expanding 30 existing shelters. The move toward what the de Blasio administration labels “high-quality” shelters would eliminate the use of hotel rooms and cluster housing by 2023 and would accelerate the creation of new shelters. Sixteen opened in 2014, four opened in 2015 and eight opened in 2016.
She said an attempt to open 90 shelters could mean a repeat of similar conflicts around the city, and she had little faith in the ability of the administration to work with local communities to win support for putting shelters there. About 18,500 people — nearly a third of those in the main shelter system — live in hotel rooms and clusters, apartments in private buildings that are often in poor condition and isolated from the kind of help homeless families and individuals need to move toward permanent housing.
Michael LoCascio, 57, a resident of Maspeth and a leader of the past demonstrations, accused City Hall of lying to the community during the clash over the Maspeth hotel and said he was deeply skeptical of the city’s ability to improve its communication with local residents about the choice of where to put shelters. That path has narrowed because of a lack of affordable housing and low wages that have not kept pace with high rents, exacerbating a crisis in a city that is legally required to temporarily house people who say they are homeless.
“He can’t find enough,” Mr. LoCascio said. “Now that he’s got to use hotels, where is he going to come up with 90 new locations and close all these cluster sites and the temporary hotels that he’s made permanent anyway? And then, is he going to evenly distribute those 22 in each borough or is it going to be that one borough bears the burden?” The city has allocated $300 million for the new shelters which could be in existing buildings that are renovated or in new structures, depending on what is available. City officials said there were no other additional service costs because money now earmarked for hotels and clusters would be shifted to the new shelters.
The leaders of some nonprofits, already battling the city over delayed payments and lagging rates for the services they provide, said the administration would need to provide adequate resources for the new shelters, ideally including community spaces and child care. Such services require more staffing, which means more money, said Frederick Shack, chief executive of Urban Pathways, a shelter provider.
But Mr. Shack was among several nonprofit executives who said they found the mayor’s new approach refreshing.
“Rather than overpromising, I think he’s being realistic,” said Mitchell Netburn, president and chief executive of Project Renewal, another shelter provider. “It’s better than promising something that’s not going to happen.”
One of the big differences in the plan that Mr. de Blasio offered on Tuesday was a pledge to give neighborhoods 30 days’ notice before new shelters are created. The city has not always provided such notice, with the result being resentment and protests when shelters opened on an emergency basis and with little local input.
“That does not mean if there’s protest we will change our mind,” the mayor said.
The mayor’s plan is meant to keep homeless people in the neighborhoods where they lived before entering the shelter system, eliminating long commutes to schools and other facilities they might want to stay connected to.
Another goal of the plan, the mayor said, was to distribute shelters proportionally.
The Bronx has 215 cluster sites, three-quarters of such sites in the city. Half the 80 commercial hotels where homeless people are placed are in Queens, according to the mayor’s plan.
Neighborhoods in those two boroughs should expect new shelters to open as the city stops using hotels and closes cluster sites.
The initiative will most likely be met with community resistance, particularly in Queens, where civic groups in Maspeth successfully blocked the conversion of a Holiday Inn by pressuring the owner with frequent demonstrations. The groups also organized bus rides to Brooklyn to protest in front of the home of Steven Banks, the social services commissioner, who is in charge of addressing homelessness.
The mayor could face a fight with the City Council, which is considering revising a city law related to the distribution of homeless shelters.
Councilman Brad Lander, a Brooklyn Democrat, said he appreciated the desire to help people stay in their neighborhoods, but that it should not “be a smoke screen for keeping an over-concentration in poor communities of color.”