Mayor Bloomberg's Plan For Homeless Services
By Arnold S. Cohen
On the June day that Mayor Bloomberg announced a new plan for homeless services, nearly 15,000 children were languishing in New York City homeless shelters. Others were sleeping on chairs and floors at the city's intake office in the Bronx, and thousands more children, not included in this count, were living doubled up with their parents in the homes of families and friends.
Headlines flagged a 32 percent explosion in homeless families in the last year -- a record high since the city began keeping statistics in the 1980s. And the picture is as bleak for homeless single adults, whose ranks are surging too.
To most New Yorkers, this is shocking news, particularly in a city that's made a concerted effort to sweep the problem from public view. Suddenly, we are seeing more people sleeping on subways and in parks. Plans for new emergency shelters are sprouting in such communities as South Ozone Park and Prospect Heights. "Wasn't homelessness a problem of the past?" so many New Yorkers ask.
But for those of us working daily with homeless New Yorkers, this "surge" is neither unexpected nor sudden. The growth in homelessness has been ongoing and should have been fully anticipated. In fact, the economic boom years of the 1990s laid the groundwork for today's "surge," with its growing chasm between rich and poor, skyrocketing rents and decreasing stock of affordable housing -- a situation seriously exacerbated by a mayor who, unresponsive to the growing needs of poor people, dramatically cut construction of low-cost housing.
Though we're now in the midst of a serious economic downturn, we cannot simply wring our hands over the failures of the past administration. We must act -- and act quickly. New York City's annual price tag for homeless services -- much of it for emergency services --stands at almost a billion dollars, at a time when huge budget deficits loom. The human cost is incalculable and threatens to overwhelm yet another generation of children.
Mayor Bloomberg's new plan offers a welcome philosophical shift from the harsh rhetoric and policies that characterized the previous eight years. Though the Mayor is still flirting with some of the punitive welfare-to-work policies of his predecessor, his overall approach acknowledges the multiple needs of people who have ended up in the shelter system or the sidewalks. It emphasizes an encouraging level of respect and sensitivity, with many low-cost improvements that advocates have sought for years -- along with a real focus on providing a "continuum of care" to ensure that people have a full menu of services to regain independence.
Yet the Mayor's new plan falls short of creating affordable housing -- a key to ending homelessness.
The lack of affordable housing goes to the heart of our homeless crisis. For example, the average cost of housing for a family of three in Queens is $900 a month, while after tax earnings for a minimum-wage worker averages $759 a month. Add in dramatic increases in unemployment, and the results are obvious. There simply isn't enough low-cost housing.
Thus far, the thrust of Mayor Bloomberg's housing policy is to re-channel existing federal subsidies towards homeless families. His plan allocates an additional 700 units of existing public housing for homeless families -- good news for families overflowing the shelters. Unfortunately, it's a "rearranging the deck chairs" situation for other working poor families, who are desperately waiting for those same public housing units.
The Mayor also has secured 3,300 new federal Section 8 vouchers, which homeless families can use to pay rent in privately-owned apartments. But landlords don't always welcome homeless families, even with vouchers. Last year, the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) had to return 36 percent of its vouchers when families were unable to use them. As part of the new plan, the city promises to develop more effective procedures for using Section 8. One creative plan is to commit the vouchers to non-profit affordable-housing developers to help spur the development of new housing. If this works, it could become an important strategy to create new housing units.
Recognizing that prevention is far less costly, and humane, than shelters, the Mayor also pledges to coordinate the various rental assistance and eviction prevention programs throughout the city and to develop new rental assistance models. However, there is no new money allocated for new rental assistance services. And the fact that Mayor Bloomberg cut rental assistance from the DHS budget (later restored by the City Council) leaves us concerned.
One of the promising elements of the Mayor's plan is a call for collaboration and cooperation, both within city government and with outside "stakeholders," including homeless people. The New York City Independent Budget Office found that seven city agencies provide various direct services for homeless people-a costly, fragmented system that allows thousands of people to fall through the cracks. Bringing all the agencies to the table will encourage coordination, saving costs and lives.
Similarly, we urge the Mayor to create a forum for the many organizations, advocates, academicians, fiscal experts and homeless people to provide valuable insights and fresh ideas for real solutions. There are many groups with creative, solid ideas to improve services -- and more important -- strategies that would increase revenues for the construction and preservation of low-income housing. Ideas range from raising the personal income tax for the wealthiest New Yorkers, reinstating the commuter tax, seeking waivers on various federal and state funding streams, investing Battery Park City surplus revenues in housing, redirecting Community Development Block Grant funds, developing revolving loan funds, and expanding property tax exemptions and abatements -- to name only a few.
Ideas abound and alternatives are available, even in the leanest of times. Who is listening? The last administration opposed low-income housing production. Mayor Bloomberg, in his new strategic plan for homeless New Yorkers, has signaled interest in seeking solutions. Now is the time to come together, to put our ideas on the table and our differences aside. Mayor Bloomberg's strategy is the beginnings of a plan on paper. We must work with the administration to turn it into bricks and mortar.
Note: Arnold S. Cohen is President & CEO of The Partnership for the Homeless
The Partnership for the Homeless began in 1982 as a single shelter in a Manhattan church basement. Today, the Partnership's public/private collaborations, direct service programs and advocacy efforts assist families and individuals make the successful transition from New York City streets to permanent housing, skilled jobs and self-sufficiency.You can read Mayor Bollmberg's plan at http://www.nyc.gov/html/dhs/html/strategicplan.html.