New York City Homelessness Essay

Throughout the history of major cities in America, one problem has affected them all regardless of size, population, or popularity: homelessness Homelessness has been a problem for many cities, but one of the cities most affected by it is New York City. However, despite the issue being so prevalent, the laws and governing surrounding it could be more effective. The laws currently in place lead to the cycle of unjust treatment towards homeless people in New York City needing to be addressed and fixed with new laws and governing. Whether it be the difficulties with housing, or the architecture keeping them from sleeping on the streets, there exists a cycle of homelessness in major cities like New York City that the laws aren’t fixing.

Homelessness

Within recent years, however, homelessness has reached the highest levels since the Great Depression (“New York City Homelessness: The Basic Facts”). The level that has been reached led to 72,562 people sleeping in the New York City shelter system in January of 2023 alone (“Facts About Homelessness”). About 68 percent of those people were in families with about 22,982 being children and about 26,284 being adults. (“Facts About Homelessness”). These numbers are about 39 percent higher than 10 years ago (“New York City Homelessness: The Basic Facts”). The reason this number continues to climb is that while more people become homeless, the ones currently in the system can’t get out. It has been reported that “Research shows that, compared to homeless families, homeless single adults have higher rates of serious mental illness, addiction disorders, and other severe health problems” (“New York City Homelessness:

The time has come to move forward and create new laws and new ways to help the homeless population in New York City. One such change that could be made is the idea of permanent supportive housing. Permanent supportive housing is an effective method to combat homelessness permanently because “...The public saves money by getting homeless people, particularly people with the most severe issues, off the streets, and into housing. Even though the housing costs money, they save in emergency rooms, jails and homeless shelters” (Bolan and Tomao). The challenge with this method of combating homelessness is the idea that people do not want housing developed within their residential area as discussed earlier. However, this stigma can be combated with education for the public on the benefits of homeless housing and shelters through an education program in New York City public schools. Another idea put forward by the New York City Council was to increase the accessibility and eligibility of homeless shelters for those who need them. “Increasing access to more deeply affordable housing…Expanding housing options for homeless youth…Expanding eligibility for rental assistance vouchers…addressing source of income discrimination and engaging landlords.” As well as this, the city council provided long-term visions like, “Work Toward a