NYC set to ramp up outreach, services to street homeless

Mayor Bill de Blasio launched a new program on Thursday to reduce New York’s rising population of people living on the streets, following criticism of his handling of the issue and days after the abrupt departure of his top advisor on homelessness. It will involve daily, block-by-block checks by city outreach workers in Manhattan, from Canal Street to 145th Street. Under the HOME-STAT plan, which should be fully operational by March 2016, workers will sweep the city’s hot spots for homeless people who live on the streets, and compile an electronic database to track the homeless population.

Every one of New York City’s street homeless people – estimated to be as high as 4,000 – will be tracked down and personally evaluated to figure out how and why they’re sleeping outside, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Friday.

After months of downplaying a the homelessness problem-sometimes saying the media was overblowing it-Mr.de Blasio changed his strategy earlier this year.

“We believe Mayor de Blasio’s (plan) will, at long last, bring thousands of homeless New Yorkers in off the streets and into permanent housing”, advocacy group Coalition for the Homeless said in a statement. Then, outreach workers will work with the identified individuals; de Blasio stated it will provide each “street- homeless individual a dedicated caseworker who will make it their mission to get their clients off the street and into a healthier place, permanently”.

“When there’s law breaking, there’s law breaking-I don’t care who does it, we’re going to address law breaking, we’re going to enforce it”, de Blasio told PIX11.

“You can call us, you can approach our HOME-STAT teams on the street or in our subways, and we will deploy the trained professionals to handle the situation in real time”, de Blasio said.

Mr.de Blasio conducted a bit of a media blitz this morning, appearing on Pix 11 television news, Mr. Lehrer’s show and on AM 970 The Answer to discuss the Home-Stat program he rolled out yesterday to tackle the city’s growing homelessness crisis.

The mayor said pre-K “is now part of the lives of tens out thousands of children”.

Anneliese Mahoney is Lead Editor at Law Street and a CT transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. “That’s the problem the mayor needs to fix”.