SUBJECT: Homelessness in New York City

TO:Hon. Bill de Blasio, Mayor of the City of New York
FROM: Robyn Liverpool, MPA Candidate, Baruch College

DATE: February 18, 2016

Problem Memorandum

Homelessness is a shared experience in New York City, either youbeen homeless, know someone who has been homeless, decided to enter the sparsely populated train car on an otherwise crowded train, only to discover it was empty because there was a homeless person on it, that did not smell so pleasant, passed a homeless person on the sidewalk or a combination of the aforementioned.People who are homeless are often unable to obtain and maintain regular safe, secure and adequate housing, or lack fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence. According to homelessness is defined as:

“an individual who lacks housing (without regard to whether the individual is a member of a family), including an individual whose primary residence during the night is a supervised public or private facility (e.g., shelters) that provides temporary living accommodations, and an individual who is a resident in transitional housing.” A homeless person is an individual without permanent housing who may live on the streets; stay in a shelter, mission, single room occupancy facilities, abandoned building or vehicle; or in any other unstable or non-permanent situation. [Section 330 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C., 254b)]

One can become homeless for a variety of reasons. Sudden tragedies like natural disasters or fires destroy homes and throw people into temporary homelessness. Many New Yorker’s weredisplaced and found themselves homeless after Hurricane Sandy.Five months after Hurricane Sandy more than 2,000 people who were displaced by the storm remain in hotels in New York City, leading some officials to acknowledge that the city had not been prepared for the challenges in finding them housing.[i]Other causes range from chronic substance abuse, financial instability caused by unemployment or underemployment, mental illness, domestic violence, sexual victimization and more.

Homelessness causes a host of other problems for the homeless individuals and for society at large. A large homeless population increases the utilization of publicly funded services such as the police hospital, emergency and impatient services, and the correctional systems.

Homelessness is also a state of vulnerability – to health risks, violence, and police harassment; heightened exposure to the elements; and the absence of privacy.Homelessness inevitably means serious health problems. Illnesses that are closely associated with poverty – tuberculosis, Human Immunodeficiency Virus & Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV & AIDS), malnutrition, severe dental problems – ravage the homeless population. Health problems that exist quietly at other income levels – alcoholism, mental illnesses, diabetes, hypertension, physical disabilities – are prominent on the streets. People without shelter fall prey to parasites, frostbite, infections and violence.

Each year New Yorker’s experience homelessness and are in desperate need of health care services. Most do not have health insurance of any sort, and none have cash to pay for medical care. Finding health care is tough or impossible. For many homeless people, seeking health care takes a back seat to more immediate priorities for survival. The Affordable Care Act mitigates some of this, for the homeless that are employed and/or may be able to secure Medicaid.However, for those starving on a freezing park bench, the pending tax penalty for not having health insurance is low on the priority list. For some, the symptoms of their illnesses or bad experiences with the health care system in their past cause them to actually avoid health care.Unacceptable costs result from poor access to health care. Ultimately, as relatively minor problems develop into health care emergencies, most homeless people do get treated, but it is treatment of the most expensive sort, delivered in hospital emergency rooms and acute care wards. Through taxpayer support of public institutions and through the cost-shifting inherent in the health insurance system, we all pay the high costs of care deferred. Undetected and untreated communicable diseases threaten the health of other homeless people in particular and of the public generally, and the bill increases as disease spreads. In the long run, perhaps the greatest costs are the moral and social results of neglecting the needs of dispossessed, seriously ill people in our midst.

Every year the The New York City Department of Homeless Services conducts Homeless Outreach Population Estimate (HOPE) gathers volunteers and counts the homeless by canvassing parks, subway, and other public places HOPE results. HOPE 2015 shows Five Percent Decrease in Unsheltered Population[ii]This year HOPE conducted the survey on Monday February 8, 2016 from 10:00 p.m. through 4:00 a.m. for this year. There has been an increase in 311 calls about the homeless. The de Blasio administration argues that the increase in 311 calls could be due to enhanced efforts to solicit homeless reports, including a cellphone app that included a homeless-report button starting in June 2013.[iii]I am anxious to read the 2016

This past Valentine’s Day weekend when temperatures were below freezing, I had to stop say a prayer for the homeless. I hope that they found a warm place to stay.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter.I desire to help in providing a solution.

Sincerely,

Robyn Liverpool

[i]NAVARROM, MIREYA. Relying on Hotel Rooms for Thousands Uprooted by Hurricane Sandy. 2013 29 March.

[ii]FESSENDEN, FORD. A Homeless Epidemic in New York? Thousandds Hit Cold Streets to Find Out. 8 February 2016.

[iii]Homeless Outreach Population Estimate (HOPE) 2015 Shows Five Percent Decrease in Unsheltered Population. n.d.