Mayor Bloomberg unveiled the details last week of his epic plan to slash homelessness by two-thirds over the next five years. While the effort hinges on the creation of 12,000 units of supportive housing, it includes a total of 60 new initiatives. In his usual business-like manner, the mayor set target dates for each, including:
• Opening prevention services offices in six high-risk communities by Sept. 2004
• Tracking evictions to homelessness citywide by Nov. 2004
• Downsizing shelters by Jan. 2005
• Conducting first-ever citywide street estimate by Feb. 2005
• Streamlining the family shelter application and eligibility process by March 2005
• Creating an accessible citywide clinical database by Sept. 2005
• Expanding the capacity of drop-in centers by Jan. 2006
• Decentralizing men’s intake by Jan. 2007
[9/27/04]