The looming mayoral elections in New York City come amid a backdrop of record-breaking homelessness, as both shelter inhabitants and street or subway dwellers, are systematically growing in number. Expected to peak in the upcoming voting surge this Saturday, June 14th, the contest for the Democratic nomination is entering its decisive phase. The conundrum of an escalating housing shortage has exacerbated homelessness, propelling a growing number of families towards this dire circumstance. At a national level as well, homelessness reached an alarming height in 2024, as per the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s report.
In the September of 2024, according to City Limits’ data, New York City’s shelters recorded a historic number of 148,000 local people taking refuge within their confines. The following two years witnessed the city grappling with the highest numbers of people without shelter in over a decade, with over 4,100 individuals resorting to the streets and subway system. After the migration crisis, while the situation has seen a modest decrease, the number of individuals living in the city’s shelters remains staggering, housing over 120,000 people. This, according to recent estimates, is roughly equivalent to the entire population of Hartford, Connecticut.
A shared sentiment runs among the mayoral candidates, viewing the solution to homelessness as intrinsically linked to reducing housing costs. A recent poll conducted by Emerson showed that 30% of the participants identified the affordability of housing as the primary circumstance that the city needs to address. VOCLA-NY’s housing campaigns director, Adolfo Abreu, stated that the core issue of limited affordable housing options remained unaddressed. Rather than sweeping the issue to the side, he suggested that there needed to be a sincere dialogue to discuss efficient solution strategies and their scaled implementation to meet the current needs.
In this volley of public discourse around homelessness, a total of 11 candidates’ names will be on the ballot, with the first mayoral debate seeing nine participants. Another seven prominent candidates took the stand for a second round of debate last Thursday. Many promises have been made on the campaign trail, contained in hundreds of pages of campaign agendas. Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo has remained a frontrunner in polling averages, leading the pack with over 30 percent, despite a tightening race.
The prevailing consensus among candidates is the urgent need to transition people from shelters into proper housing. However, the escalating housing crisis has rendered affordability a primary hurdle for many families. According to a report published by the Coalition For The Homeless and other housing entities in March, one-third of the city’s population spends over half their income on rent. This issue only intensifies for low-income families, with 75% of these households having to allocate more than half their income towards housing.
This housing crisis is further punctuated by the fact that the city has witnessed a startling 16,813 evictions over the last year. This marks the highest number of evictions since the termination of eviction moratoriums instituted during the pandemic. As a measure to ease shelter populations into independent living, the city has been issuing housing vouchers named CityFHEPS. These vouchers facilitate subsidized rent for approximately 55,000 households, as per the Department of Social Services (DSS).
Due to the city’s hyper-competitive real estate market, despite an increasing number of individuals utilizing the CityFHEPS vouchers each month to transition out of the shelter system, they still face discrimination and a lack of housing options. Additionally, the suburb is dealing with an unprecedented demand, causing the CityFHEPS’s budget to inflate up to five times since 2021 to over $1.25 billion. Currently, amid concerns about the spiraling expenses, the city has had to roll back its voucher program under Mayor Eric Adams’ administration.
Despite the substantial expenditure of the CityFHEPS program, housing advocates regard it as critically essential, particularly given the uncertainty around federal assistance regarding New York City’s residential schemes. Other programs such as Section 8 are also precariously reliable on federal funding. New York Housing Conference’s director of policy and operations, Brendan Cheney, stresses the dual requirements of maintaining the CityFHEPS program and increasing the housing supply to effectively reduce the sheltered population.
Street homelessness, another chronic issue, is also witnessing its highest rates over the past decade in NYC. High-profile incidents have only added fuel to the fire, rekindling debates and concerns around public safety, mental health crises, and the needs of street dwelling homeless individuals. For instance, a disturbing incident where a woman was set on fire on the Q train in Brooklyn has had significant reverberations among the city’s subway commuters.
Transitioning people from the streets or shelters to housing is the widely endorsed solution. However, New York City’s shortage of both affordable and supportive housing to cater to the needs of homeless families and individuals has been a stubborn blockage. The Coalition for the Homeless revealed in its latest annual report that, “In a city with more than 820,000 extremely low-income (ELI) households, only 2,063 affordable homes were constructed for ELI families in 2024.”
Evidence is mounting that emphasizes housing is a fundamental anchor for individuals who require mental health, substance abuse, and other wraparound services. The ‘housing first’ approach advocates the provision of housing as a prerequisite, without demands for demonstrated sobriety, arduous paperwork, or mandatory period within a shelter. Those who have been funnelled through this ‘housing first’ process have shown lesser tendencies to relapse into homelessness and have sustained long-term housing.
However, Cheney says that implementing a truly efficient ‘housing first’ model struggles due to the shortage of supply. The issue begins at the inception where the lack of housing stands as a major obstacle. As the upcoming administration will inherit this escalating crisis in housing and homelessness, analysts perceive that a transformative, pragmatic approach will be necessary. The crisis is steadily worsening, and as voiced by Abreu on behalf of VOCAL-NY, the need for sound resolution strategies cannot be overstated.
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