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���������� Note: The ���������� City Comptroller’s office released a report calling for the increases in available Housing First modeled programs to reduce the number of people experiencing street homelessness. The report also outlines the failures of the city’s current strategies, such as encampment sweeps, to reach their intended goals of getting people off the streets and into housing. In fact, of the 2,308 individuals removed from encampments since Mayor Adams’ directives, “only 3 people had entered permanent housing as of January 23, 2023.” also shows encampment sweeps can lead to increased overdose hospitalization and death for people experiencing street homelessness. And these policies are not cheap. A recent US Interagency Council on Homelessness on four large cities showed encampment sweeps “cost the four cities between $3,393,000 in Houston to $8,557,000 in San Jose.” The Comptroller’s report makes clear what many of us already know, stable housing is essential to getting on the path of recovery and should be the focus of services offered to those in need of shelter. Housing First strategies, which offer people housing without attached requirements, successfully kept 70-90% of people who enter housed for at least two years. This was recognized by both the Governor and the State Office of Mental Health, who outlined housing as a priority in the $1 Billion investment in mental health. We have been told at least 500 of the 3,500 new housing units will be Housing First models. This is a wonderful start, but we will need more if we want to assist the thousands of people experiencing homelessness in the city and state. You can read the Comptrollers full report . Below is the executive summary for the report.

Housing First: A Proven Approach to Dramatically Reduce Street Homelessness
���������� City Comptroller Brad Lander | June 28, 2023

The vast majority of individuals and families experiencing homelessness in ���������� City seek temporary shelter within the City’s shelter system. However, despite accounting for only a small fraction, less than 5%, of the overall population of unhoused ����������ers, individuals living on the street are often the dominant face of homelessness, prompting public outcry for action. In addition to being more visible, individuals experiencing street homelessness are more likely to be chronically homeless, have higher rates of serious mental illness, substance use disorders, and other severe health problems than homeless families in the shelter system.

The 2022 HOPE (Homeless Outreach Population Estimate) count estimated that there were 3,439 individuals in ���������� City living on the street, in parks, or on the subway on January 25, 2022. However, advocates believe that the HOPE count is a significant undercount of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness. While an independent accounting of the street homeless population has not been conducted, the Coalition for the Homeless cites the outreach numbers from the City’s end-of-the-line subway program to illustrate the vast discrepancy: between May 2020 to January 2022, 9,231 unique individuals accepted offers of transportation to drop-in centers and various types of shelters.

In March 2022, Mayor Eric Adams created a task force involving four City agencies: the Department of Homeless Services (DHS), the Police Department (NYPD), the Department of Sanitation (DSNY) and the Department of Parks and Recreation (NYC Parks) to dismantle and remove homeless encampments across the City, in actions referred to as “cleanups” or “sweeps.” The sweeps had two stated goals: (1) to provide the individuals living in these encampments access to temporary housing, financial assistance, or mental health and substance use assistance and (2) to clear temporary physical structures in public spaces.

Between March and November 2022, the task force conducted a total of 2,154 sweeps, 196 of which were of “encampments” and 1,958 were of “pop-up sites.”, During these sweeps, DHS outreach staff participated in the removal of 2,308 homeless individuals.

The Comptroller’s Office conducted an audit of DHS’ role in these sweeps. The audit found that the sweeps failed to meet the goals of the task force:

• Only 119 (5%) of the 2,308 individuals engaged during sweeps accepted temporary shelter and, of these, 29 left shelter on the very same day they entered.

• Only 90 individuals (3.9%) stayed in shelter for more than one day. Of those 90, 59 individuals (65%), stayed for less than 6 days and 70 individuals (78%), had departed shelter by January 23, 2023.

• As of January 23, 2023, only 43 individuals (2%) remained in shelter.

• Only 3 people had entered permanent housing (0.1% of the 2,308 individuals engaged in the sweeps; 2.5% of those who accepted shelter) as of January 23, 2023.

• A survey of 99 homeless encampment sites which had been cleared by the sweeps by auditors from the NYC Comptroller’s Office found that 31% had been rebuilt within one year.

To complement the audit and develop recommendations to improve the City’s success rate in connecting street homeless individuals to permanent housing, the Comptroller’s Office conducted a review of a policy shown to be effective in achieving that goal: Housing First. Housing First is an evidence-based practice that prioritizes providing permanent housing without first requiring individuals to enter shelter or graduate through a series of programs or services. The Comptroller’s review of policies from across the country found that 70-90% of Housing First participants remain stably housed two to three years after receiving services, compared to 30-50% of participants in traditional “housing ready” or “treatment first” programs (and compared to the 0.1% of individuals stably housed following ���������� City’s sweeps from March to November 2022).,

Based on the audit findings and policy review, the Comptroller’s office recommends the following, to connect ����������ers experiencing chronic homelessness more effectively to the support they need and reduce street homelessness:

• End the counterproductive sweeps targeting homeless ����������ers with involuntary removal. Instead, rely on trained professionals to conduct outreach, provide resources, and connect people to low-barrier housing options.

• Continue to invest in the expansion of single rooms in “safe haven” shelters and private stabilization beds.

• Establish a large-scale Housing First program, building on successful models.

A decade ago, the City of ���������� largely applied these policies to help homeless veterans, and the result was a remarkable success, reducing veteran homelessness by 90%. We can and should do the same to address street homelessness today