A Love Letter to Policymakers
Jeff Foreman, Director of Policy
Advocates to end homelessness in New York City owe
policymakers a love letter, so this is ours.
The new de Blasio administration, a new more
progressive City Council, new Council General Welfare Chair Steve Levin and
their teams are just about 100 days into their responsibilities. And the ship
of state is turning.
That’s quite an accomplishment for the highest
homelessness rate city in America.
In January, following a decade of crisis growth in
homelessness, the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) census of city homeless
shelters documented just how bleak the situation had become. That month we hit
new record census highs for total shelter population (53,615) and children in
the system (22,712). Worse yet, over 111,000 people, including more than 40,000
different children, had to use those shelters at some point in 2013. And the duration
of stay for homeless families with kids keeps getting longer to its current 435
days (that’s 14 ½ months).
Even that horror story understates the problem
because it doesn’t count those in city shelters outside the DHS control
(domestic violence shelters, HASA emergency shelters for people living with
HIV, veterans’ shelters, shelters for runaway and unaccompanied youth, and
more) and it doesn’t count those in non-governmental shelters like small faith
based shelters. It doesn’t count people living on the streets, in cars, parks
or subways (a 2013 HUD nationwide point-in-time count estimated street
homelessness fell 4% nationwide even as it grew 13% in New York City). It certainly
doesn’t count tens of thousands of New Yorkers couch surfing with family or
friends and on the verge of homelessness.
Incoming policymakers had their hands full by any
measure. And expectations were high.
To be clear 100 days isn’t time enough to be judged
on funding, execution or implementation and certainly not on results of policy
changes. It is time enough to start to chart a new course. That’s being done.
In the March 31st state budget two
potentially game-changing policy initiatives were included that were big ideas
promising big results. Both were major Care for the Homeless Agenda items that
we and our clients have been vigorously advocating. So here are two big thanks
for changing statutory language prohibiting state funding allowing for a crucial
tool to move people experiencing homelessness from shelters to stable housing,
and for including a provision to cap tenant rent in HASA housing to 30% of
household gross income.
Make no mistake, without New York City Council
(thank you Chairman Levin, Councilman Ruben Wills,
every member of the General
Welfare Committee and the 50 members of Council who pushed on this), the Mayor
and his DHS Commissioner Gilbert Taylor, the rent subsidy change simply
wouldn’t have happened this year. The
HASA rent cap was a joint mayoral-gubernatorial agreement that made it into the
budget after many years of attempts and failures to pass it.
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| Commissioner Gilbert Taylor with Care for the Homeless Certified Client Advocates Ava Conner and Philip Malebranche |
There’s more to thank these new leaders for. Mayor
de Blasio has promised “base-lining” important homeless programs in the city
budget – like existing health clinics in shelters - taking them out of the
annual budget negotiation “dance.” Thank you.
Commissioner Taylor announced an initiative to
coordinate city homeless policies among several governmental agencies that
impact it, and Councilman Levin is drafting city legislation to
institutionalize that. Thank you.
There’s been a commitment to reinstitute priority
for a portion of NYCHA public housing units to homeless families, just as there
was until the city ended it in 2004. Thank you.
There’s a long way to go and loads more to do. But
these are the first steps toward ending homelessness In New York City. We
really are thankful to the policymakers taking those steps.
Often it’s not just policy, but attitude, that
signals a sea change on an issue. Advocates for fighting homelessness have
found strong voices with focused attention in the new leadership. Public
Advocate Letitia James has made standing strong for vulnerable New Yorkers a
major issue and we thank her. Thank you to virtually every Council Member, with
special thanks to leaders like Speaker Mark-Viverito, and Council Members
Cumbo, Gibson, Johnson, Levin, Menchaca, Palma and Wills.
We were overwhelmed last week when the new First
Lady of New York, Chirlane McCray, used a major public speech to promise to use
“whatever influence I have” to fight the “unacceptable” homeless crisis in NYC.
Thanks again.
Email Jeff at policy@cfhnyc.org.
