Amid violence in New York City homeless shelters — former city schoolteacher 62-year-old Deven Black was found with his throat slit and head almost severed at the Boulevard Homeless Shelter on January 27 — Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced plans to boost security at shelters and offer more help for mentally ill homeless New Yorkers.
“The murder of one of our shelter residents is shocking and disturbing, and we must address shelter security with urgency. Our shelters should be safe environments where homeless people, with and without mental illness, can be treated with respect, become self-sufficient and move to permanent housing,” de Blasio said.
Mayor @BilldeBlasio announces 24/7 peace officers at all @NYCDHS mental health shelters: https://t.co/ILSjeLYfBV
— Homeless Services (@NYCDHS) February 1, 2016
Many people who live on the street resist going to a shelter, even when offered a ride there by the police, citing concerns over violence and theft. Therefore, in the coming days, the New York Police Department will be increasing security at the Boulevard Homeless Shelter and will complete a system-wide security assessment of all 27 mental health shelters throughout New York. In addition, Department of Homelessness Services will deploy additional peace officers to all the mental health shelters for 24/7 surveillance.
How New York’s homeless lived through this weekend’s blizzard: https://t.co/YsjTFize6U pic.twitter.com/fsFXPURejY
— VICE Canada (@vicecanada) January 25, 2016
Bill de Blasio added that the city will increase the number of mental health workers at the intake centers where homeless people first enter the shelter system and improve communication between city hospitals and the Department of Homeless Services in cases when people with mental health issues go back and forth between hospitals and shelters.
EDITORIAL: The right reforms for New York’s homeless system https://t.co/vozhkVb3NE
— NY Post Opinion (@NYPostOpinion) January 31, 2016
According to New York Daily News, there is a reason why NYC’s homeless resist shelters despite frigid temperatures – rats, bedbugs and violence plague the city’s dysfunctional and overcrowded shelter system. A 41-year-old woman , homeless for a year, told the newspaper that she would never return to a shelter.
“I’m not going. They’re going to have to lock me up. The streets are a lot safer. I almost got raped (in a shelter). I’m frustrated. The community, they’re doing more than the mayor. When you force people into shelters, that’s a problem. You’re putting all these problems together to make a bigger problem.”
“Taxpayers fund over $1 billion for a dysfunctional statewide shelter system” NYC Governor plans to fix shelters https://t.co/WdD8jHFRUd
— Homeless Hub (@homelesshub) January 30, 2016
According to the latest Shelter Repair Scorecard issued by de Blasio’s office, City homeless shelters had a whopping 21,401 open code violations at the end of 2015. 14,418 open code violations were found at 265 cluster shelters, where homeless people are housed in apartment building units rented out by the city. Another 6,984 violations were found at non-cluster shelters.
“For decades, our shelters have not been safe enough and have not been clean enough, and it’s quite clear that a lot of homeless people chose not to go to them,” accepted de Blasio.
What life is like for homeless people in New York City https://t.co/2IdO1jsKib on @AJFaultLines pic.twitter.com/fuA3QC5EK3
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) February 4, 2016
While 3,000 homeless people live on the streets, about 58,000 people are crowded into shelters overseen by the city’s homeless services.
In New York City today, 400,000 millionaires live among 60,000 homeless people. https://t.co/SZzGBr5b04
— Jacobin (@jacobinmag) February 3, 2016
This Article (As Homeless Resist Shelters, New York City Mayor Offers An Olive Branch) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to the author and AnonHQ.com.
