A Family Affair: Parents, Children and NYC's Homelessness Crisis

Bill to Require Mental Health Staff at Family Shelters Spurs Worry Over ‘Unintended Effects’

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Supporters of the legislation, which would require the city to fund the placement of mental health professionals on-site at all homeless shelters with children, say it would increase access to care for families experiencing the crisis of housing insecurity. But some advocates worry it could inadvertently ensnare more low-income families in the child welfare system.

A Family Affair: Parents, Children and NYC's Homelessness Crisis

NYC Considers Summer Camps to House Homeless Migrants 

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Strained for shelter space, the Adams administration confirmed it was exploring the possibility of using camp facilities “should they become necessary,” to house asylum seekers arriving from the Southern border. The city has relied on commercial hotels and other stopgap facilities to quickly add shelter capacity for decades, but camps would be a new sort of accommodation for families.

Housing and Homelessness
Shelter beds in the Bronx

Council Bill Could Force NYC to Report Actual Homeless Shelter Census—Eventually

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Since Jan. 1, City Limits has been publishing more accurate homeless shelter census figures after a Council bill to force the city to publish a true number failed last year. The total commonly cited by city officials excludes thousands of people staying in shelters run by agencies other than the Department of Homeless Services (DHS), failing to count more than 15 percent of the actual population.

Health and Environment

Homeless Hotel Residents Brace for Next Move as NYC Weighs Changes to COVID Protections

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The Department of Homeless Services (DHS) is re-evaluating its guidelines for sheltering older homeless adults and people with significant health problems that make them especially vulnerable to COVID-19, who can under the current rules access private or semi-private rooms. More than 170 such residents being housed at a Radisson Hotel in lower Manhattan will need to move out by early next month.