For more information on the HOPE 2005 survey results, click here.

4,395 Street Homeless Individuals Estimated Citywide

April 22, 2005 - Department of Homeless Services (DHS) Commissioner Linda Gibbs today released the results of the City's first-ever all borough estimate of the number of street homeless individuals, which estimated 4,395 street homeless individuals. With cities around the country now conducting similar estimates, HOPE 2005 shows that New York City's level of street homelessness when compared to the general population is significantly lower than that found in cities such as Chicago, Miami, Phoenix, Seattle and San Francisco, which have all recently conducted similar counts. The methodology employed by the NYC Department of Homeless Services was last October identified as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) "standard for statistically valid methodologies." Commissioner Gibbs was joined by homeless advocates from the Bowery Resident's Committee, Citizen's Advice Bureau, Project Hospitality, and Volunteers of America.

"New Yorkers can take pride in the fact that just as we've brought crime down to record low levels so have we made great strides over the past decades in reducing street homelessness," stated Commissioner Gibbs. "While we continue to have far too many individuals remaining on our streets, we now have a solid estimate of street homelessness citywide - and we will be working aggressively to reduce this number on a community by community basis. Our challenge is to press ourselves to find innovations and improved strategies to help those that remain outside find their way off the streets."

The HOPE survey showed no statistically significant difference in the number of street homeless individuals this year over last in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Staten Island, the boroughs in which HOPE 2004 was performed. In addition, the HOPE survey this year incorporated a new quality assurance adjustment involving "decoys," which were dispatched throughout the five boroughs to determine the degree to which street homeless individuals may have been missed. Based on the decoy hit rate, DHS used a formula to adjust the estimate to further increase accuracy. No other jurisdiction in the nation incorporates such a sophisticated methodology or a quality assurance component to estimate the unsheltered population.

"Building in an estimation procedure to correct for all of the shortcomings of any street count is a substantial step forward in the City's efforts to take the measure of the unsheltered poor," stated Dr. Hopper of the Nathan Kline Institute, who coordinated the quality assurance component. "We've worked collaboratively and fruitfully with DHS to make this a workable reality, and other jurisdictions would be well advised to learn from this example." 

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg released in June 2004 an action plan to end chronic homelessness and reduce street homelessness by two-thirds by 2009. The estimate produced by HOPE 2005 will now serve as a baseline against which the city will manage to reach this goal. The action plan, called Uniting for Solutions Beyond Shelter, includes initiatives to further improve street outreach and engagement strategies, as well as ease entry into shelter and supportive housing for individuals currently living on the streets.

"Mayor Bloomberg has challenged us to reduce the street population by two-thirds over these five years, which will bring our street homeless population to 1,465 people," said Commissioner Gibbs. "The strategies we are employing involve enhancing our approach to street outreach, increasing our use of data to understand who is on the street and what their needs are, as well as easing movement off the streets for  those who have not responded to our services."

The HOPE 2005 survey estimated 4,395 street homeless individuals. After adding the quality assurance adjustment, which was not part of previous HOPE estimates, 1,805 street homeless individuals were estimated to be in Manhattan, 592 in Brooklyn, 231 in Staten Island, 335 in Queens, 587 in the Bronx, and 845 in subway cars and stations.