04/18/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/18/2024 07:20
New York, NY - New York City Comptroller Brad Lander launched a new dashboard, Charting Homelessness in NYC, which tracks New York City's shelter population - broken down by family type, age, and race, factors leading to homelessness like eviction filings, and shelter exits with housing vouchers. The dashboard will automatically update at regular intervals.
"We urgently need to combat the homelessness crisis, and we have a much better chance of doing that effectively if we look clearly and consistently at the data," said Comptroller Brad Lander. "Looking squarely at eviction trends can focus the City's efforts to prevent evictions and keep people in their homes in the first place. And looking at what's effective in helping people exit shelter keeps our eye on the goal of making sure that every New Yorker has a stable and affordable place to live."
The dashboard tracks key metrics like:
Shelter Population:
Evictions:
Shelter Exits:
In August 2021 there were 45,000 individuals in DHS shelters, the lowest daily population in nearly ten years, but then the pandemic-era eviction moratorium came to an end and eviction filings resumed. At the same time, New York City began to receive tens of thousands of new asylum seekers in the summer of 2022, many of whom have sought refuge in City shelters. The combination of these factors caused the shelter population to balloon over the past two years, with the City providing some form of shelter and services to over 120,000 individuals each night.
With the end of eviction moratoria and a shrinking supply of affordable homes, data show renters are now facing the economic costs of the pandemic. The new data dashboard allows for detailed monitoring of cases filed against tenants in housing court to track these changes.
The Office of the New York City Comptroller developed this dashboard to help New Yorkers track homelessness trends and to monitor the City's efforts to help more residents move out of shelter into stable housing. The City needs many solutions to help every New Yorker have a safe, stable, and decent place to live. Last summer, the Comptroller's office published an audit review of pathways in and out of shelteras well as a policy report on Housing First, which recommends various approaches to reduce street homelessness.
View the new dashboard Charting Homelessness in NYC here.
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