Lawmakers Questioning New City Homeless Policy
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City Council members are voicing skepticism about a change in the city’s policy toward homeless families that denies late-night emergency shelter to those previously deemed ineligible for city help, saying it could unfairly force them onto the streets.
“Turning people away does not solve the homeless problem,” Council Member Bill de Blasio said yesterday at a hearing. He described the change, which took effect October 12, as “a drastic and ill-conceived policy” that could see the “beginning of street homelessness reasserting itself.”
The city says the new policy prevents abuse of the system by families who have other places to stay. “Our new policy is working,” the commissioner of the Department of Homeless Services, Robert Hess, told council members. He said city shelters have seen a 46% decline in families seeking late-night placements since the policy took effect, which he said demonstrates its success and frees resources for deserving families.
Mr. de Blasio, however, questioned the relevance of the statistic, saying it does not show whether the newly rejected families had other housing or were “sleeping in churches and McDonald’s.”
The commissioner said the city had no information on what happened to families after they were turned away, prompting Mr. de Blasio to question how the department could evaluate the policy. He showed a picture of a family, that he said had been rejected from shelters under the new policy, sleeping on a church floor. “I can’t believe you think this policy is succeeding if this is the result,” the council member said.
Mr. Hess defended the changes in policy, saying the department thoroughly investigates families’ claims and can assess whether the city’s services are truly needed. “These are not arbitrary decisions made willy-nilly,” he said.
Council Member Jessica Lappin questioned Mr. Hess’s claim that the city could effectively determine families’ needs, noting that department statistics showed that 21% of families in shelters were deemed eligible only after their second application. Mr. Hess said the families’ situation could have been different when they were declared eligible on later applications. “If there is a change in circumstance, they can return to us,” Mr. Hess said.
