Streets Are Not Shelters: Clarifying NYC's Debate Over "Homelessness"
New York City’s inability to overcome homelessness ranks as one of the most glaring exceptions to the general improvement in city conditions during the past 30 years. Crime has declined, the local economy has expanded, and the budget is balanced, but the sheltered homeless population is now several times what it was in the early 1980s, and levels of street homelessness remain persistently high.
New York City’s inability to overcome homelessness ranks as one of the most glaring exceptions to the general improvement in city conditions during the past 30 years. Crime has declined, the local economy has expanded, and the budget is balanced, but the sheltered homeless population is now several times what it was in the early 1980s, and levels of street homelessness remain persistently high.
- While polls show that most New Yorkers believe that the street homelessness problem has increased under Mayor de Blasio, the statistical evidence about the rise in street homeless citywide is ambiguous; it is possible that it has shifted to areas of higher visibility—mainly, the transit system.
- The notion that NYC’s homeless problem is primarily a housing problem should be qualified for two reasons: first, there were times in NYC’s history when the vacancy rate was much lower and yet homelessness was practically nonexistent; and second, “doubling up,” normally thought of as a transition phase into homelessness, has declined in recent years as a reason given for homelessness.
- Though NYC spends more than $1 billion addressing homelessness—with the vast majority of those funds devoted toward maintaining the shelter system—only a small fraction is devoted to outreach efforts focused on moving homeless off the street.
Are you interested in supporting the Manhattan Institute’s public-interest research and journalism? As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, donations in support of MI and its scholars’ work are fully tax-deductible as provided by law (EIN #13-2912529).