City Partners with MTA to Integrate Above and Below Ground Outreach Strategies, Clears 70 Targeted Homeless Encampments, and Names Outreach Providers to Serve as Single Points of Accountability for Each Borough

Unsheltered homelessness is down 15% from 2005, the first year the NYC Department of Homeless Services (DHS) conducted its Homeless Outreach Population Estimate (HOPE) in all five boroughs, according to the annual HOPE results released today.  Nineteen percent fewer individuals are living on city streets or in parks since 2006 and homeless individuals living unsheltered continued to decline or remained steady after steep declines in four out of five boroughs. 
 
“The Homeless Outreach Population Estimate is a critical tool in helping us to target our outreach services to the most vulnerable New Yorkers—individuals who are chronically homeless,” said DHS Commissioner Robert V. Hess. “By keeping track of fluctuations in specific areas or boroughs, above ground or in the subways, we can evaluate programs, develop best practices, and incorporate changes in resources and policies to best meet the needs of our clients.”
 
Targeting the Subways
Commissioner Hess and Elliot G. Sander, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), announced an alliance between the City and State agencies and the subway outreach provider, Bowery Residents’ Committee (BRC), to address chronic homelessness in New York City subways, which is on the rise.  Currently, all subway outreach is handled by MTA Connections homeless outreach. However, DHS and MTA will move forward with a partnership to create a more integrated system of outreach on the surface and in subways since many of the clients targeted move between both systems, and which may account for the increase.  The partnership will focus on increased access to low-threshold housing options, such as Safe Haven and stabilization beds, for subway outreach teams.  In addition, DHS will facilitate increased access to police support for homeless outreach activities underground, similar to efforts on the surface. The partnership will also include coordination of vital data collection between both groups, as well as a special initiative at Penn Station, one of the three highest density transit areas with homeless individuals identified by HOPE 2007.  Additional opportunities for collaboration will be identified through regular meetings between the two agencies and their outreach providers, including identification of other transit partners.
 
 "The MTA's homeless outreach program has for decades helped connect homeless in the transit system with the services they need while improving the transportation environment for everyone," said Elliot G. Sander, Executive Director and CEO of the MTA. "This new partnership with DHS will dramatically increase the number of people we can assist by providing access to low-demand beds and other resources."  
 
Successful Outreach Strategies
Commissioner Hess highlighted several successful outreach strategies that have had a positive impact on the decrease in chronic homelessness.  One example, the City of New York Homeless Encampments Initiative, partnered DHS and more than a dozen city and state agencies to clear 70 targeted encampments and “hot spots” throughout the five boroughs.  Encampments are places where a group of homeless individuals build make-shift dwellings and live.  “Hot spots” are places where multiple homeless individuals congregate and live but do not include a make-shift dwelling.  Through this collaboration, encampments and “hot spots” were identified, tons of debris were removed, extensive and continuous outreach contacts were made with individuals residing in these sites, nearly 70 individuals were placed into transitional or permanent housing, and the sites were secured. These sites are routinely monitored to ensure that encampments are not reestablished.  Citizens are encouraged to call 311 to report encampments and “hot spots.”
 
George and Jerome are two former encampment dwellers. They met while living on the streets and finally decided to move indoors when the encampment in which they were living at the Bronx Terminal Market was targeted for clearing. After more than 20 years of living on the streets, both men are now living in transitional housing and are working toward permanent housing placements.
 
Redesigning Outreach for Tomorrow
DHS also announced that its redesign of street outreach services is complete.  An extensive RFP process will result in a single point of accountability for each borough, ensuring an unprecedented level of coordination. These new contracts incorporate previously held DHS and Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) contracts and provide for management oversight by DHS with clinical oversight by DOHMH. Providers selected to negotiate contracts with DHS include:  Goddard Riverside Community Center, Manhattan; Common Ground Community, Brooklyn/Queens; Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB), Bronx; and Project Hospitality, Staten Island.
 
Contracts will be performance-based and include evidence-based practices such as the Housing First model. This model focuses on placing chronically homeless individuals in housing and then working on their mental health or substance issues rather than making placements contingent upon successfully addressing those issues, which often deter people who are chronically homeless from seeking housing.  Also, in the next few months, outreach workers will begin using a new citywide data collection and analysis database featuring wireless handheld devices to access and input client information from the street.  And, DHS is expanding the low-threshold housing options that exist outside the shelter system that are so often embraced by people who are chronically homeless—safe havens and stabilization beds. 
 
HOPE 2007 By the Numbers
New York City has 3,755 unsheltered individuals according to HOPE 2007—a ratio of 1 unsheltered homeless individual to 2,169* of the general city population.  San Francisco has a 1 in 267 ratio; followed by Phoenix with 1 in 654; and Miami-Dade County with 1 in 1,741.
 
There were 1,040 unsheltered individuals in Manhattan; 324 in the Bronx; 445 in Brooklyn; 186 in Queens; and 136 in Staten Island for a total of 2,131 on the surface (meaning streets and parks). There were 1,624 unsheltered individuals in the subways, which includes Penn Station.
 
DHS is moving toward the ambitious goals set in 2004 when Mayor Michael Bloomberg released Uniting for Solutions Beyond Shelter, a Five-Year Action Plan to end chronic homelessness and reduce street homelessness by two-thirds by 2009.  HOPE 2007 shows the city is on track to meet that goal with a second year of declines in street homelessness.
 
*This represents a list of the largest U.S. cities with a similar street count methodology for which DHS was able to confirm a recent census.