To Whom It May Concern:
There is a serious homelessness epidemic throughout the United States but it is no more evident than in its largest community, New York City. This problem is very serious and affects thousands of individuals and families who call this city their home despite not having a physical residence to call their own. As of July 2018, 61,697 homeless persons are living in New York City, and this includes 15,032 families with 22,384 children who do not have permanent addresses; therefore, this is a significant problem which requires greater attention and focus from city leaders and experts with the means or resources to enact legislation to address the issue and to support changes in how this problem is managed (Coalition for the Homeless, 2018). Homelessness in New York City did not occur overnight and has been evident throughout its history; however, recent statistics indicate that the problem has reached peak epidemic proportions that have not been evident since the Great Depression which took place in the 1930s (Coalition for the Homeless, 2018). Based upon current estimates and the problems that homelessness introduces for individuals and families, it is necessary to take immediate action and to consider different types of legislation which could be useful in addressing the issue so that fewer people on the street will endure long-term suffering and can improve their quality of life in the short-term.
Use your promo and get a custom paper on
"Homeless Shelters in New York City".
There are numerous public policy concepts and initiatives in place based upon prior research which can be effective in addressing the homeless epidemic in New York City and in providing this group of people with the resources that they require to obtain housing and stability. For instance, federal housing assistance has been an essential tool which offers individuals and families vouchers, known as Section 8 or Housing Choice, to obtain housing with low rents to bring these individuals off the street and into permanent situations where they no longer need to rely on shelters on a regular basis to obtain food and a place to sleep (Coalition for the Homeless, 2018). In addition, permanent supportive housing is an option for New Yorkers which allows homeless persons to obtain a permanent residence along with support services for different situations that include HIV/AIDS, mental health disorders, and other problems which affect overall health and wellbeing (Coalition for the Homeless, 2018). These and other tools are of critical importance in providing the necessary resources for homeless persons to overcome this problem and to obtain the support that is required to obtain permanent housing and income assistance through job placement and other resources to prevent reentry into this system.
From a legislative perspective, however, there are numerous challenges associated with homelessness across New York City which affect this population and can limit their options in a variety of ways. For example, in February 2017, Mayor DiBlasio introduced a five-year plan to expand the number of homeless shelters available to this population and improving some of the existing shelters to accommodate more people and provide comprehensive services and support (Stewart, Fessenden, & Wallace, 2017). Homelessness in New York City emphasizes the sporadic nature and the availability of homeless shelters which are available in different forms that include cluster apartments, hotels, and traditional shelters where many people currently live; however, the proposed plan would increase the number of locations to 360 throughout the city and provide proximity to other resources such as schools and jobs to support both children and adults (Stewart et al., 2017). One of the problems related to this plan was that it did not consider an existing practice known as “fair share” enacted by the City Council to distribute resources m-ore evenly rather than to segregate these options across different neighborhoods; however, this plan appears to contradict this strategy and is problematic in this context (Stewart et al., 2017). The location of many of these shelters is also an issue because they are clustered in a manner which is not useful to the homeless population because they might not have the resources, such as transportation, to access these shelters if they are too far away (Stewart et al., 2017). Therefore, this option may not fulfill the needs of the homeless throughout New York City and could cause additional problems for some individuals and families.
It is the responsibility of the Mayor and the City Council to work collaboratively to combat homelessness rather than to go on two separate paths which do not proactively address the problem and utilize resources in an efficient manner. The development of a successful strategy to reduce homelessness requires an examination of the key contributing factors to the problem; therefore, the Mayor and his team should support legislation which is specifically designed to minimize this problem and to encourage the development of new programs to not only support shelter living but to also expand to another phase to provide resources for these persons to move into permanent homes in the future. This is a complex issue with multiple concerns and cannot be solved overnight; however, a proactive approach requires active communication among all parties and supports the development of new tools which can have a positive and lasting impact on outcomes for those who are currently homeless. It is inevitable that there is not one single solution to combat homelessness in New York City and this requires a multi-step process that requires many years to accomplish. However, the use of resources is crucial and requires the Mayor, City Council, and others who support this objective to work together in identifying a set of common goals and objectives rather than to focus on activities which may not have the desired impact and fall short in accomplishing these goals.
Understanding why there are a large number of homeless people in New York City is critical and necessitates an examination of its causes and possible solutions. For instance, a report known as the 2018 State of the Homeless entitled Fate of a Generation: How the City and State Can Tackle Homelessness by Bringing Housing Investment to Scale demonstrates that the city government as well as the state have further exacerbated this problem and do not offer sufficient support and solutions to address the problem which will have the desired impact on the people who need these resources the most (Coalition for the Homeless, 2018). There are many areas where needs go unmet and can cause catastrophic conditions for the homeless population and therefore, require significant emphasis and the reallocation of resources from other people to protect the homeless from additional risk or harm (Coalition for the Homeless, 2018). In this capacity, the governing bodies of New York City and the State of New York must come together to recognize the true severity of this problem and aim to manage their resources more effectively, as well as allocate additional funding, time, and other resources to support the homeless and to introduce them to permanent solutions over time (Coalition for the Homeless, 2018). These opportunities are likely to have a significant impact on the homeless in the future if they have the knowledge, tools, and resources available to escape homelessness and to have more permanent and stable opportunity to improve their quality of life and wellbeing.
- Coalition for the Homeless (2018). State of the homeless. Retrieved from
http://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/the-catastrophe-of-homelessness/state-of-the-
homeless/ - Stewart, N., Fessenden, F., & Wallace, T. (2017). New homeless shelters are coming to New York City: which neighborhoods are likely to get them? The New York Times, retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/07/22/nyregion/nyc-homeless-shelter-maps.html
