Controversy In New York City’s Homeless Strategy

New York’s Coalition For The Homeless recently released their “State of the Homeless 2006” report which strongly criticizes New York City’s effort to end homelessness. (Here is the report.)

The media says that New York City’s homeless plan is “flawed” and that “homelessness is on the rise in New York.”

The report says that homeless families have nearly doubled from the last decade to this decade. The report also states that “this decade is turning out to be the worst decade for homeless New Yorkers since the Great Depression.”

The Coalition also says that the city government’s homeless rent subsidy program, “Housing Stability Plus”, is also flawed. It says that the gradual reduction of rental subsidies is just forcing homeless families to return to homelessness.

The city government’s Department of Homeless Services is fighting back on the PR front. They say that homelessness has decreased in the last two years. They say that the Coalition’s report is just “a publicity ploy.”