Homelessness is Solvable: Key Suggestions from Our Policy Forum
Suggestions to End Homelessness
On June 14th,
Care for the Homeless and the LIU Brooklyn MPA Program held a Policy Forum on
Preventing and Ending Homelessness in New York City. Over 300 people came
together to discuss how to prevent and end homelessness in New York City. The
Forum included multiple panels and presentations on a range of pressing topics
involving homelessness. It featured panelists who were educators, advocates,
policy makers, service providers and experts in the field, including a number
of people with the lived experience of homelessness.
The Policy and
Advocacy team at Care for the Homeless and staff from LIU’s MPA program
compiled a list of suggestions that were shared by the speakers and panelists
during the Forum and the attendees who added their ideas to our suggestion box.
It was our promise that we would put all the suggestions together and circulate
it to Forum participants and New York City policymakers. Some of these
suggestions are small or very incremental, and others are big picture ideas.
Many are long discussed concepts, but others are novel. Some are specific to
the homelessness crisis in New York City, but many are also applicable to areas
around the country or around the world.
Thank you to all
who contributed! It is now up to each of
us to work for the better public policies that we know can end homelessness as
we know it!
Housing
We are in the
most severe affordable housing crisis in history. Those that are living in deep
poverty, and people with extremely low incomes, are disproportionately
affected. Homelessness policies have focused on creating more affordable
housing for the most vulnerable to keep people from becoming homeless, but the
pace has not kept up with the demand. Having adequate permanent stable housing
for people experiencing homelessness is a critical step towards ending the
cycle of homelessness because it provides stability to allow them to connect
with the services needed for employment and/or health care. In the long run,
providing housing (especially supportive housing) results in cost savings
because it prevents people from cycling in and out of homelessness, which is
the ultimate goal. Not surprisingly, many of the suggestions had to with the
need to increase housing options for extremely low income or homeless people.
Below are suggestions to prevent and end homelessness:
-
To prevent eviction, vacancy decontrol and preferential rents need to
be regulated because they are an increasing cause of displacement, and
ultimately, homelessness
-
Move shelter residents and homeless New Yorkers into permanent housing
and provide support services
-
30,000 Supportive Housing Units, as proposed by New York City and New
York State, but in 5-to-7 Years
-
Build more supportive housing, but over a reasonable time (not 10 or
15 years)
-
Shorter timelines for housing programs in general
-
Much like NYC has a “Right to Shelter” let’s enact a “Right to
Housing”
-
“Housing not Warehousing”. This is legislation that will mandate an
annual count of vacant property in NYC, mandate a registry for all landlords
holding their properties vacant and compile a list of all city, state and
federally owned vacant property that can be used for affordable housing
-
Community Land Trust for government owned vacant properties
-
Under the Community Land Trust, use vacant land and publicly owned
buildings in New York City to create immediate housing for people living in
deep poverty
-
Social impact bonds to turn shelters into stable housing
-
Pass the “Home stability Support” legislation that modernizes the New
York State shelter allowance for public assistance eligible households to 85%
of the current HUD determined fair market rate
which reduces evictions and keeps families in their homes
-
Legalize already existing New York City basement apartments to expand
tenant protections and create affordable housing for extremely low income
people living in deep poverty
-
Create more permanent housing
-
The federal government must make adequate Capital funds available to
renovate substandard public housing units and get them back in use
-
Protect affordable units and other incentive programs during
development
-
Curb privatized “Public” housing. For example, Nixon-era
vouchers and Bloomberg’s “80/20” infill programs transfer public money to
private landlord and developer hands that needs to be regulated
-
Socialize real estate investment. If the land in New York is so
profitable for development, then the city of New York needs to get in the game
and build its own asset portfolio
-
Make full use of affordable housing resources to end homelessness by
increasing the number of New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) and Housing
Preservation and Development (HPD) units set aside for homeless families and
individuals
-
Repair NYCHA and HPD apartments to increase supply of available units
-
Use existing vacant apartments under Housing Preservation and
Development and the New York City Housing Authority’s control to house homeless
families and adults, immediately
-
More Housing First (similar to Utah) models in New York City
-
Relinquish HPD apartments from landlords who exploit their tenants and
NYCHA apartments needing repairs. Then take these apartments and give them to
nonprofits and let them rehabilitate them. Then those units can go to low
income families and single adults who reside in New York City
-
Our Family Eviction Prevention Subsidy (FEPS) program is failing, the
city needs to work on policy or laws to prevent that from happening.
-
Add a modest fee to all eviction and foreclosure filings as a
dedicated source of funding for more housing for extremely low income people
-
Transitional Community Residence/Single Room Occupancy needs to be
permanent housing, not a long-term stay pending a shared apartment
-
Create more vouchers and eviction prevention programs and partner
clients with local Community Based Organizations with the expertise to connect
them to funding and resources
-
Provide housing vouchers for those released from prison or discharged
from state institutions
-
Pass legislation guaranteeing a non-time limited voucher entitlement
for anyone who was homeless (done in Minnesota)
-
Given the anticipated decrease in federal funding (U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development cuts), it is even more important that New York
City shift more focus from shelter to
affordable housing/rent assistance
-
Make it harder for local governments to restrict developments that include
substantial affordable housing, a way to fight NIMBYism (Not in my
backyard-ism)
-
More socialized housing options
-
Stop increasing rent at the current rates and levels
-
More eviction prevention funding to stop evictions and help maintain
people in their apartments
-
Take all public funds used to pay for storage of goods and use them to
create housing for poor people
-
Restructure the New York City housing lottery system to favor
extremely low income families
-
There are many old buildings in Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, and
Manhattan. Why not have those building remodeled or torn down and rebuilt to
host or serve as shelters, affordable housing units, program rehabilitations,
centers or training facilities for homeless populations in NYC
-
Expand “Pay for Success” Models,
an approach to contracting that ties payment for service delivery to the
achievement of measurable outcomes, i.e. “Homestretch” housing
-
To help New Yorkers fight eviction, the city needs to provide cash
assistance to pay arrears and support legal services to increase housing
stability
-
Promote programs for supportive housing residents that allows them to
“move on” when ready
-
Create a “McArthur Genius” type competition to come up with new ideas about how to create
permanent, stable housing for people experiencing homelessness
Landlords and Realtors
Much of the
blame for increases in homelessness in major cities is targeted toward rising
rent prices and lack of effective government regulation over housing units. It
is extremely difficult to get policy changed and new legislation passed, but
the local and state government must do better. There was a wide range of
suggestions directed at “market actors” including landlords and realtors for
how we could make housing more available. Here are the highlights:
-
Offer more real estate guidance and
assistance to people experiencing homelessness, like “navigators” for people
seeking health insurance
-
Bar landlords who discriminate or abuse
public programs from participating in any other government programs
-
There need to be policies put in place that make it harder for
landlords to reject applicants and discriminate against people who were
previously homeless and struggling
-
Implement better training for all licensed
realtors regarding penalties for discrimination
-
Implement a tax for building owners who do not offer 50% of their
units at an affordable cost, including some units for extremely low income
people
-
Change the real estate policies for New York City and extend rent
stabilization for all low income households
-
Make additional housing available in current market rent buildings
-
Generate more incentives for landlords to supply affordable housing
units
-
Enforce anti-discrimination laws that criminalize discrimination based
on rejecting any legal source of paying rent, i.e voucher programs
-
Increase fines and penalties for landlords who exploit their tenants.
Offer them an alternative of turning people over to a public trust created for
the purpose of using housing stock for people experiencing homelessness
-
The landlords and realtors need to be introduced to the Living in
Communities (LINC) Rental Assistance program vouchers and encouraged to
participate in order to create trust which was lost after funding for the
Advantage Program was pulled, making it difficult for clients to find housing
Children and Young Adults
When most people
picture homelessness, they think of a single, typically older, adult. Unfortunately,
homelessness among children has skyrocketed in recent years. It now accounts
for about 40% of the daily census in New York City Department of Homeless
Services shelters. That figure is only for children in homeless families in the
shelter system, but there are also many unaccompanied or runaway youth without housing
and “feeder systems” for homelessness including the foster care system. Often youth and young adults are not counted
as “homeless” because they move around between relatives or friends, but they
must not be overlooked.
-
Work much harder to prepare foster kids and at risk youths for the
real world and make sure they know the full extent of their legal rights, as
well as available benefits and supports
-
There needs to be more aftercare services post foster care
-
We need to give youth access and allow them to qualify for
supportive/stable housing
-
There needs to be more tracking of young people after they leave shelters
and/or foster care
-
The Right to shelter must be extended to include emancipated young
people
-
Stop allowing DHS to separate adult children (18+) from their families
when they enter PATH for placement. It is important to allow families to remain
together so that the adult children can work and increase the likelihood that
the family can obtain and maintain stable housing
-
Provide more/better after school programs to assist students at-risk
of homelessness, especially in shelters
-
It would be beneficial to offer New York City homeless people,
especially young people, free access to college courses, and support them
getting a degree. Better education will create better employment opportunities
-
At the state and local levels, we must work to provide more high
school work programs/internships so young adults can develop key skills to hold
a successful career and contribute to the community. This would also allow them
to build connection with employers who could help them in the future
-
Create an effective volunteer mentoring program with a goal of
providing effective mentoring to every kid and young adult in shelter
-
Systems for young people going into the shelters (foster care,
juvenile justice, domestic violence ect.) should help establish a requirement
to create a written housing plan for each kid, at least 90 days from their
“release date”
-
Establish a work program as a last resort for all kids over age 16 in
shelters who want a job, offering both training and an opportunity for full-time
work
Changes that could be made within
shelters
Many people
expressed interest in giving less money to shelters and more to affordable
housing, but it is very important that we do not dismiss the shelter system. Shelter
care is a key to ending homelessness and transitioning people to stable
housing. As the system currently exists, shelters must become a crucial
stepping stone out of homelessness. Shelters must provide the best services and
environment that they can in order to get people back on their feet.
-
It is crucial that shelters let residents be more independent so they
are better prepared to live on their own once they get out of the shelter
-
Provide access to legal advisors for homeless people or people trying
to escape homelessness
-
Improve shelter-divide. Intake units must place consumers with the
services they need
-
Improve safety in shelters so that people feel safe to reside in them
-
There should be more specialized shelters, especially for people with
disabilities or medical conditions, that provide specialized services
-
Provide health centers in all shelters
-
Every shelter should have co-located services, especially medical and
mental health services
-
Every shelter should offer General Education Programs and other
educational and vocational programs to help people receive beneficial education
and training
-
Consumers must have more of a voice in what shelter they are placed in
-
There should be better efforts to place residents in or very near the
community they have family or other social ties to, and where they are familiar
with things and feel comfortable
-
Pay to end homelessness vs. pay for homeless shelters
-
Need for more “on demand” mental health care at shelters
-
Shelters should work to provide fulltime job opportunities to
residents
-
Treat shelter residents with dignity, recognizing their ability to
make choices for themselves
-
New York City needs a robust medical respite program- expand the Bronx
Hospital Consortium demonstration project
-
Create medically appropriate shelters for residents with chronic
conditions
-
Create “one stop shop” services in all shelters where care managers
provide information and assistance with all benefit and support service
programs
 |
| Policy Forum media panel (left to right): Courtney Gross of NY 1, Rosa Goldensohn of Crains New York, Zyphus Lebrun of CUNY TV, and Jarrett Murphy of City Limits |
Ending Stigma, Expanding Public
Knowledge, and Cultivating Community Involvement
It is time to
end the stigma against poor and homeless people. Stigma is detrimental to
society because it prevents people from getting involved in ending homelessness
and it is detrimental to people experiencing homelessness because it makes it
more difficult for them to obtain housing or employment. As policy forum
panelist Zyphus Lebrun said, “We cannot be afraid to talk about these issues
because of their stigma”. There’s so much more we can do to educate our peers
and engage our community on the topic of homelessness. The following are some
ideas:
-
Ending the stigma against homelessness in communities would be hugely
beneficial to gain financial and community support to move affordable housing
into nice neighborhoods
-
Advertise against “not in my back yard”(NIMBY) and promote local
support of people experiencing homelessness by raising money from residents and
get them more comfortable with the idea of helping homeless people to welcome
them into their communities and neighborhoods
-
The religious community plays an important role in educating New York
on social issues. It is important to call on them to help them humanize
homelessness
-
We must increase public education on the many facets of homelessness
so people can understand the actual face of it
-
We need to work on tapping into people’s emotions by telling real
stories to remind the world that we’re housing people
-
The Face of Homelessness campaign is a great way to personalize
homelessness and familiarize the public with the many facets of homelessness.
It is important to note that the face of homelessness is shifting. It used to be single adults and
now it is young adults, families with kids and young white people. Because of the changing demographic, new
interest in homelessness is being generated
-
Advocates need to stop stigmatizing single adults by creating
categories of “more deserving” poor, like families with children
-
We need more advocates and homeless people who are willing to
represent and speak publicly about the issue because personal
stories allow people to relate and feel like they have a stake in the issue
-
We need to shift the way that homelessness is
framed in the media and within the community of advocates. Shifting the
rhetoric from an endless battle to one that contains a positive message with
tangible solutions will perhaps counter “compassion fatigue” and can move
people to understand that homelessness can be solved
-
The public needs more information on what to do when they come across
a homeless person so they know how to best help them at the moment
-
Additional community involvement and coordination to provide support
would be very beneficial. For example, clinics or shelters could coordinate
on-site tutoring through local schools/universities
-
Politicians and policy makers need to have firsthand experience of
homelessness either by meeting, visiting, or sharing a meal with a currently
homeless family, single adult or aged out youth, and/or living on the streets
and/or shelter for thirty days
-
Media should work to individualize stories of homeless people- each
person is an individual with their own story
-
Need more “stories of success”, like the summer solstice stories of
how homeless people overcome tremendous obstacles to find stable housing,
employment, and deal with health issues
-
Treat people experiencing homelessness with dignity, let them make
their own decisions, stop treating them like children
Healthcare
Access to good
healthcare is crucial to helping people bring themselves out of homelessness. Nonprofits
such as Care for the Homeless strive to provide the best healthcare possible
throughout the city, but limited resources make this task very difficult. We
know that people experiencing homelessness have extraordinary barriers to
accessing medical healthcare, but we also know that adequate high-quality and
appropriate healthcare produces far better outcomes and facilitates the
transition from unstable housing to more permanent solutions. We also know that
mental health care is often a contributor to becoming homeless or the inability
to escape homelessness. It is very clear that we need to improve the way we
diagnose and treat mental health issues for people experiencing homelessness.
Shelters must provide a more comprehensive and readily available mental and
medical healthcare model. Here are a few things that could be very beneficial
to addressing mental and health care services for people experiencing
homelessness:
-
Make health centers/healthcare more accessible to people experiencing
homelessness by:
·
having locations that are easy to reach via public transportation
·
having extremely flexible hours for people who are work during the
days
·
provide childcare for parents who have no one to leave their kids with
·
Provide evening hours at health centers in shelters
and drop in centers
-
Promote healthier habits and provide health education consistently,
before serious issues arise
-
Provide on demand drug and addiction services
-
We need medical respite shelters, so people in hospitals that don’t
require very high levels of care, but can’t be released to the streets or a
shelter, can be discharged
-
Provide more in depth mental health screenings and treatment
-
Stop co-occurring health and/or social problems if possible
-
Try to push government partners to be creative in their utilization of
public spaces such as schools, libraries, and fire stations to use as temporary
clinics for services like flu shots or brief annual checkups.
-
Create locations that are a “one stop shop” in community health
-
Post hospitalization recuperation/ respite with path for accelerated
housing placement
-
Conduct an in depth trauma-informed approach training for those
working within shelter systems
-
We need more supportive housing for those trapped in adult
homes/shelters with mental illness that offers services when they are requested
-
Continue to expand access to community based supports such as
Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) teams for those struggling with mental
illness
-
Coordinate locating community health centers near all shelters,
community health centers can help de-stigmatize treatment
-
Serve healthier and better food at shelters, make fresh produce
readily available
Nonprofits
Much of the hard
work to end homelessness has come from nonprofits and advocacy groups. They
play a huge role in providing immediate care for homeless people on a day to
day basis as well as generating progress through our elected representatives in
the long run. Since funding is scarce, it is important that these groups do not
allow money to create undue competition and remember that they are all fighting
for the same cause. It is equally important that politicians continue to listen
to and support these advocacy groups and bolster their efforts with just and
effective policies.
-
The government needs to speak more directly with nonprofits and ask
them about the direct issues they face with placing their clients into
permanent housing
-
Nonprofits, especially nonprofit CEOs should look (demographically)
like the people they serve
-
Pay people working to end homelessness much better salaries; many
nonprofit and public employees live paycheck to paycheck, almost on the verge
of homelessness themselves
-
Increase government funding because the lack of resources creates unnecessary
competition between advocacy groups. This is an injustice to everyone because
it prevents organizations from working together
-
Less politics and more professionalism
-
Nonprofits should try to hire people from among the vulnerable people
they serve, giving their clients the opportunity for full-time decent jobs
-
Support exceptional supportive housing providers to create a standard
for other providers to follow
Societal Changes
Homelessness is
a direct reflection of our society. We cannot pride ourselves on being an
extremely developed and advanced nation, while our neighbors sleep on the
streets. We cannot think of it simply as a government problem or an issue that
only plagues people living in poverty because we know it can happen to
anyone. As panelist Elizabeth Cohen
said, “homelessness is not a diagnosis-it is a symptom of poverty and
instability”. None of us should forget that homelessness is solvable.
-
There may be different solutions to ending homelessness in different
neighborhoods. It is very important for legislators to consider local vs. hyper
local solutions
-
End racism, classism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, and ageism
-
Develop a strategy for addressing systemic issues in our society
-
Give people experiencing homelessness dignity and hear them, let them
make their own choices, empower them to speak for themselves
-
There is a lack of integrated continuous support for people trying to
come out of homelessness. People must help with making sure they are on the
right track and mentors must help them learn what “the right track” is
-
End fear of applying to federal programs for immigrants. Many are
extremely worried that they will be at risk for deportation if they reach out
for help even though they do qualify for many programs
-
Right to legal counsel for undocumented people
-
Sanctuary cities don’t offer enough for immigrants. We need to make
social service programs and subsidies available to undocumented people
-
Conduct more surveys directly with people experiencing homelessness so
we can target the biggest challenges they face more precisely
-
Create equal opportunity in terms of employment and education
-
Hold your elected officials accountable- vote, call, email, attend
hearings, ask questions!
-
Adequate resources for civil legal representation for poor people so
they are not priced out of the justice system
-
Change the HOPE Count so it more accurately counts homeless people
indoors (like all night restaurants, etc.), and includes people in Domestic
Violence shelters, HASA transitional housing, and all city shelter system
Local
Changes
New York City is one of the greatest and most unique places on earth.
What separates New York from the average city is its expansive diversity in
culture, race, religion, beliefs, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Its greatness
makes it also one of the most desirable and expensive places to live, making it
difficult to find stable affordable housing, especially for extremely low income
households and those in deep poverty. The city has an obligation to help
everyone find and maintain a place to call home, regardless of income or past
history. The following are local suggestions for policy changes:
-
Evaluate and partner with regional leadership around money spent to
shelter residents from municipalities outside of New York City ie: New Jersey,
Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. Ask for additional money from these states or to
federal government based on those numbers
-
We can end homelessness by getting the city to comply to the right to
shelter
-
Build more public transportation lines near affordable housing so
people can still access jobs easily or build denser housing near transit
hubs
-
Eliminate restrictive building codes to allow for higher density
development
-
Create work groups for specific shelter populations (that are
typically hard to place) to bring
shelter providers and the Department of Homeless Services/Human Resources
Administration together to discuss barriers and solutions to permanent
placement
-
Adopt a low cost MTA fare for people in poverty or in extremely low
income jobs
State Changes
The state has tremendous
power to end homelessness. The coordination between New York State (NYS) and
New York City (NYC) is lacking when it is most important for them to work together
to allocate resources to NYC where the highest percentage of homeless people
live in NYS. Some suggestions that were submitted multiple times to our
suggestion box were that New York State should raise minimum wage and increase
funding towards affordable housing. Below are other suggestions:
-
Authorize the development of all 20,000 promised supportive housing
units immediately as NYC has done
-
Adequately fund human services; eliminate artificial 2% budget cap
-
Create a regulatory structure to authorize the safe operation of
“medical respite” program
-
The Federal government decreased veteran
homelessness; this could be a model for the state to do the same
-
Higher New York State housing benefits could be an opportunity to
engage reputable landlords. For example, enterprise community partners’ come
home NYC recruited landlords to supply apartments for homeless families with
children and provided a guarantee fund up to $3,000/lease to offset costs
-
Coordinate state and local regulatory matters such as inspections of
shelters to avoid costly duplication
-
Co-operate on matters of real emergency shelter for people in
situations like Hurricane Sandy
-
Create better protections against evictions and stronger penalties for
violations
-
Create a real program for state government to promote hiring people
experiencing homelessness in fulltime life-sustaining work
-
Provide comprehensive aftercare services to clients who are placed for
up to one year to provide support and guidance to avoid/reduce recidivism
-
Create population specific rental subsidies that have built in
structures to support placement, permanency and educational career growth
-
A right to shelter should also include a right to comprehensive
mandatory services
-
Stop giving developers, landlords, and corporations tax credits
-
Work on general programs like Living in Communities (LINC), Section 8,
Special exit and Prevention Supplement (SEPS) programs, which don’t cover the
economic credit standards of landlords. The client’s background is another
obstacle and these factors affect us greatly in the development of our work to
place clients in permanent housing
-
Use a portion of Medicaid, or other healthcare funding, for housing
for people experiencing unstable housing, on the basis that stable housing
produces much better healthcare outcomes, and actually saves more in health
care spending than it costs
-
Pass and fund Home Stability Support in 2018-2019 budget to increase
housing allowance for people on public assistance
-
Authorize localities to expand the DRIE program to include households
where the disabled family member is not the head of household, for example, a
child with a disability
-
Provide housing vouchers for those released from prison or discharged
from state institutions
-
Strengthen rent laws: Eliminate vacancy decontrol and vacancy bonuses
in the rent laws
-
Require allocation of 20% of vacancies in Mitchell Lama developments
to serve homeless households with a disabled member and provide each with a
state or federally-funded housing voucher
-
Double the independent living and preventive foster care housing
subsidies to $600 per month (See A.00259/S.01291)
-
Adequately fund human services; eliminate artificial 2% budget cap
-
Enforce anti-discrimination laws
Federal
Changes
The federal
government must step up on funding to end homelessness throughout the nation.
States have most of the jurisdiction over legislation affecting homelessness,
but only the federal government has the resources to end homelessness, and
there are some things that must be done on the national level.
-
We need to change the definitions of homelessness. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development’s definition must include people who are couch surfing, living in
motels, living with a pimp and/or trading sex for shelter
-
Increase HUD’s ability to serve and house low-income individuals
-
Fund public housing at a level that meets the needs
of people experiencing homelessness
-
Provide adequate Capital funds to renovate public housing and get the
apartments available for rent
-
Someone must create an effective way to end homelessness on the state
level, and prove that it can be replicated nationally to encourage federal
funding
-
Eliminate the mortgage interest tax
-
Really enforce housing discrimination laws
-
Create a tax credit for renters to give them the kind of assistance
mortgage holders get
-
Provide a base universal income floor to lift people out of extreme
poverty
-
Structure program like reverse redlining and give incentives for
development in those areas for supportive housing
-
The government could take money in federal subsidies for mortgage
deductions that go to some of the wealthiest people and put it into housing
assistance
-
A Universal, single payer, Medicare for all types of healthcare would
provide better out comes and save
money
-
Fund programs for adequate mental health, addiction treatment and
other basic and necessary services
Conclusion
We have made
progress in the fight against homelessness, but we still have a long way to go. As one participant stated, “the world
needs to have more forums like this policy forum so that agencies are on the
same page and up to date with the latest developments and communities have a
structured environment to discuss possible solutions”. At Care for the Homeless
and LIU’s MPA program, we believe that if we all work together, we can end
homelessness in a matter of years, not decades. It was a great pleasure
bringing together people with different levels of expertise and experience. If
this is indicative of the level of dedication towards the goal of preventing
and ending homelessness in New York City, we are on the path to ending
homelessness in years, not decades.
Thank you to everyone to contributed
to this list and please keep the dialogue going!
