Down 99 beds from this time last year, space is running out in New York City’s patchwork of shelters for teens and young adults, which provide counseling, education, job training and other services. Many who qualify for the youth shelters—including newly arrived immigrants—are instead turning to the strained Department of Homeless Services system.
City Limits rounds up the latest housing and land use-related events, public hearings and upcoming affordable housing lotteries that are ending soon.
More than 5,200 New York City families moved from homeless shelters to permanent housing during the 2022 fiscal year, down significantly from the year prior. A new report says the city could accelerate move-outs with a few policy tweaks that streamline access to rental assistance.
The city’s affordable housing lotteries are notoriously competitive, but new data shows some progress: in the most recent fiscal year that ended in June, 6,173 applicants were approved for a unit through the lottery system, up nearly 24 percent from the fiscal year prior. But the approval process took longer for applicants than the year before, and the odds remain tough.
City Limits rounds up the latest housing and land use-related events, public hearings and upcoming affordable housing lotteries that are ending soon.
The new, formalized procedure essentially codifies what has become a de facto sweeps policy under Mayor Eric Adams, and replaces a 2020 directive that removed the NYPD from most street homeless outreach and clean-ups in the wake of an uprising for police accountability and reform spurred by the murder of George Floyd.
Dirty bath water and a slew of apartment rejections test the faith of three single moms trying to get out of the city’s homeless shelter system. After 14 months, Johanna Garcia finally found an apartment for her and her children—but the journey wasn’t easy, and the average length of stay in shelter for families like hers is only getting longer, new data shows.
The city’s ‘right to shelter’ provides a basic safety net not seen anywhere else in the country, allowing anyone who wants a shelter bed to get one (at least temporarily). But that right appears to be under siege as the city struggles to meet shelter demand amid a surge in homelessness.
Supporters of the legislation, which would require the city to fund the placement of mental health professionals on-site at all homeless shelters with children, say it would increase access to care for families experiencing the crisis of housing insecurity. But some advocates worry it could inadvertently ensnare more low-income families in the child welfare system.
“There is a real solution: end the off-street parking requirements mandated by archaic zoning laws enacted when gas was cheap and full of lead, elevated trains were being torn down, and flying cars were the future. With climate change now posing an existential threat, it is time to move on.”
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