The Department of Social Services and Homeless Services (DSS-DHS) today announced that the annual Homeless Outreach Population Estimate (HOPE) Survey.
The survey is of unsheltered homelessness in New York City (NYC) estimated that there were 4,140 individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness in NYC on the night of January 23rd, 2024. Despite the city’s overall shelter census hitting record highs as a result of the city’s ongoing asylum seeker crisis, thanks to the Adams administration’s historic investment in dedicated resources to address the pre-existing crisis of unsheltered homelessness, coupled with critical investments in supports for asylum seekers, NYC continues to have one of the lowest rates of unsheltered homelessness of any major U.S. city. More than 95% of New Yorkers experiencing homelessness are sheltered in NYC. Since the start of this administration, DHS has more than doubled outreach staffing and aggressively expanded specialized shelter capacity to meet the unique needs of New Yorkers experiencing unsheltered homelessness. These vital investments helped double the number of permanent housing placements from specialized shelters in Fiscal Year 2023 with nearly 1,000 New Yorkers formerly experiencing unsheltered homelessness now in subsidized permanent housing.
Even as the city’s shelter census more than doubled over the past couple of years, the HOPE 2024 estimate is consistent with last year’s estimate of 4,042 New Yorkers experiencing unsheltered homelessness. Similarly, the non-asylum seeker DHS shelter census continues to be 7% below pre-pandemic levels and well below the pre-pandemic peak of more than 61,400 in January 2019, largely because of progress increasing overall permanent housing placements from shelter by 17% year over year and the city’s comprehensive prevention-based efforts. This year’s estimate shows that the city’s investments and initiatives are having a real impact, and key efforts are headed in the right direction.
“Since the start of our administration, we have prioritized reaching out to every person experiencing unsheltered homelessness,” said Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom. “Our outreach teams have made significant strides in this effort placing 2,000 people and connecting 500 people through our subway outreach to permanent housing. Furthermore, NYC continues to be a national leader with more than 95% of those experiencing homelessness in stable shelter settings. We know that we have more work to do to reach all those living on the street to meet our goal of having every New Yorker have a safe, stable permanent home.”
“… doubling outreach staffing and aggressively expanding specialized shelters …”
“The Adams administration has made unprecedented investments to address the citywide crisis of unsheltered homelessness and these investments are clearly having an impact. Thanks to doubling outreach staffing and aggressively expanding specialized shelters to address the unique needs of some of our most vulnerable New Yorkers, the city has made important progress strengthening pathways to permanent housing for New Yorkers experiencing unsheltered homelessness” said Department of Social Services Commissioner Molly Wasow Park. “Since the start of this administration we’ve been able to connect more than 2,000 New Yorkers who were living unsheltered on city streets and subways to permanent housing and we are squarely focused on building on these outcomes as we continue to invest in critical resources for this population. As we bring hundreds more Safe Havens and stabilization beds online and double-down on our ongoing efforts, our outreach teams remain undeterred in their efforts to reach every New Yorker in need to connect them to the quality care they deserve.”
“We are proud of the progress we’ve made connecting thousands of vulnerable New Yorkers to safe shelter settings and permanent housing, and this is only made possible by the countless outreach workers and frontline staff who work closely with New Yorkers experiencing homelessness every step of the way to help them stabilize their lives,” said Department of Homeless Services Administrator Joslyn Carter. “As we push forward with our ongoing efforts to address the crisis of unsheltered homelessness in the City we will continue to build on our innovative models to enhance supports for New Yorkers experiencing unsheltered homelessness as our outreach teams continue to build trust and encourage New Yokers in need to come inside through our round-the-clock outreach efforts.”
In February 2022, the Adams Administration released the Subway Safety Plan to intensify interagency coordination across end-of-line subway outreach efforts to better support New Yorkers experiencing unsheltered homelessness on city subways. The plan provides enhanced investments in outreach teams, new Safe Haven and stabilization bed development, and clinical services; as well as inter-agency collaboration between key City and State agencies, notably the New York City Transit Authority. Through these efforts alone, the city has connected more than 7,500 New Yorkers to shelter services.
“… 400 dedicated outreach staff canvassing city streets and subways round-the-clock …”
These efforts complement the city’s 24X7 above-ground HOME-STAT outreach efforts – one of the most comprehensive outreach programs in the nation – which have also resulted in vital connections to shelter services for thousands of New Yorkers experiencing unsheltered homelessness. As of today, DHS has more than 400 dedicated outreach staff canvassing city streets and subways round-the-clock as the city works to ensure we are reaching and supporting every New Yorker in need. This administration also continues to bolster specialized interventions led by healthcare experts to support some of our hardest-to-reach New Yorkers experiencing compounding mental health and substance use challenges in the subway system and connect them to critical medical assistance and supports.
The Adams administration has also invested in the aggressive expansion of specialized beds, including Safe Haven and stabilization beds, which are designed to meet the unique needs of New Yorkers experiencing unsheltered homelessness on city streets and subways. DHS has opened more than 1,100 new Safe Haven and stabilization beds since the start of this administration, with nearly 4,000 such beds available today, and more than 500 additional beds scheduled to come online by the end of this year. The city has been able to strengthen outcomes for New Yorkers experiencing unsheltered homelessness through these vital programs and DHS continues to work to ensure that every community has these critical safety net resources to serve and support their vulnerable neighbors.
According to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) New York City has one of the lowest rates of unsheltered homelessness of any major U.S. jurisdiction. Last year, just 5% of persons experiencing homelessness in New York City were experiencing unsheltered homelessness – in stark contrast to other large jurisdictions around the country. According to HUD data from 2023, in Los Angeles, for example 73% of the total number of Californians experiencing homelessness are living unsheltered, whereas in New York City more than 95% of New Yorkers experiencing homelessness are in safe and stable shelter settings receiving robust case management and services to help them stabilize their lives and transition to permanent housing.
New York City continues to have one of the lowest rates of unsheltered homelessness of any major US City (2023):
Key Survey Context: This year’s survey was conducted on the night of January 23, 2024, by volunteers and outreach staff in keeping with the 2023 Survey effort and unlike 2021 and 2022 when the Survey was conducted only by outreach staff because of the pandemic. (The 2021 and 2022 Survey effort should be treated as anomalous years because of myriad pandemic-related factors impacting the survey effort and estimate.) In 2024, the city also saw a slightly larger volunteer turnout than in 2023.
The HOPE estimate is conducted in over 400 states and cities throughout the country in order to estimate the number of people sleeping in parks, streets, subways and other public spaces on a single winter night.
New Yorkers who see individuals they believe to be experiencing homeless and in need of assistance should contact 3-1-1 via phone or mobile app and request outreach assistance for the most immediate response.
Photo credit: 1) Wiki. 2) NYC.gov
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