For more information on the HOPE 2006 survey results, click here.

3,843 Street Homeless Individuals Estimated Citywide

April 24, 2006 – The Department of Homeless Services (DHS) today announced the results of the City’s fourth annual Homeless Outreach Population Estimate (HOPE 2006), held on February 27, which show a 13 percent decrease in street homelessness since last year’s count.  This year’s survey results estimate 3,843 individuals are living in the City’s streets, parks, subways, and other public spaces and provide the first year to year comparison of street homelessness in all five boroughs.  The results were presented today by DHS Acting Commissioner Fran Winter who was joined by Dr. Lloyd I. Sederer, Executive Deputy Commissioner for Mental Hygiene Services at the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and nonprofit outreach providers including the Bowery Residents Committee, Citizens Advice Bureau, Project Hospitality, and Volunteers of America.

“It is extremely encouraging to see that the number of vulnerable residents living on New York City’s streets is on the decline,” noted Acting Commissioner Winter.  “This year’s results show that real progress is being made toward overcoming street homelessness.  We will continue to hold ourselves accountable to Mayor Bloomberg’s goal of reducing homelessness by two-thirds by 2009.”

Key Findings

• 3,843 unsheltered individuals are estimated to be living on the streets, in parks, under highways, and in the subway stations and trains in New York City – a 13 percent decrease from HOPE 2005, which was held on March 7, 2005. 
  
• When comparing the street homeless population to the general population, New York City’s rate of street homelessness remains among the lowest of any major city for which similarly comprehensive street count data was available and confirmed including Miami-Dade County, Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles County.
  
• HOPE 2006 showed continued quality improvement with 85 percent of the planted decoys counted, compared to 70 percent in last year’s count.  Based on the number of decoys found, a formula was used to adjust the estimate.

Quality Assurance Adjustment

New York City’s HOPE street count methodology is recognized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as a national standard for statistically valid methodologies.  The count is conducted every year from midnight until 4 a.m. on the last Monday in February to count the number of people who remain outside on the coldest winter nights (HOPE 2005 was postponed one week due to blizzard conditions).  For the second year in a row, the survey incorporated a ‘plant and capture’ decoy study, overseen by Research Scientist Dr. Kim Hopper of the Nathan Kline Institute.  To increase accuracy, the study used homeless decoys to determine the degree to which street homeless individuals may have been missed during the street count.  Based on the number of decoys found, a formula was used to adjust the estimate.  

“The plant-capture method uses ‘a count within the count’ to improve the accuracy of the overall population estimate,” noted Dr. Hopper.  “After adjusting the city's original estimate to account for missed 'plants,' we find that the point-in-time estimate of visibly unsheltered homeless people on the street is lower than last year by more than 500.”

Focus on Housing First

In 2004, Mayor Bloomberg launched Uniting for Solutions Beyond Shelter, a five-year action plan to end chronic homelessness.  The action plan outlined multiple initiatives targeted at overcoming street homelessness and set a goal of reducing street homelessness by two-thirds by 2009.  Among those initiatives was the reconfiguration of outreach services and a new focus on a “housing-first” approach to outreach, which aims to stabilize individuals by placing them directly into permanent housing and then provide services that lead to recovery, stability, and ultimately independence. 

Over the last year, the Department of Homeless Services and the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene have worked with nonprofit outreach teams to develop collaboratives in high-need areas of the City to facilitate the placement of chronically homeless clients into housing.  Collaboratives are community-based networks that pool their resources, bringing together various programs such as hospitals, drop in centers, soup kitchens, and churches, to best meet the needs of a single client.  The City will continue to expand these collaboratives over the coming year. 

In addition, as part of the shift to a housing-first approach, the City will be making more supportive housing resources available to the chronic street homeless population through the New York/New York III agreement, facilitating placements directly from the street into housing.

“We are working closer than ever before with many government and nonprofit organizations that serve street homeless individuals,” noted Dr. Lloyd I. Sederer.  “Using our collective expertise, we will move people who have spent years on the streets into housing.”

This year’s survey estimated 3,843 street homeless individuals including 1,021 street homeless individuals in Manhattan, 778 in Brooklyn, 211 in Staten Island, 66 in Queens, 551 in the Bronx, and 1,216 in subway cars and stations.