Ruth E.Hernández Beltrán
New York, 25 Jan. Hundreds of volunteers went out last morning to “census”, regardless of the New York winter cold, those who sleep every night on the streets or public places in New York, a city where the number of homeless people has reached historic levels.
“Where do you sleep tonight?” The volunteers asked each person who wandered the streets, whether or not they were homeless, as part of the census that has been carried out since 2005 throughout the country and Puerto Rico in the last 10 days of January for the federal Housing Department (HUD). ).
The number of those sleeping in public places will not be known until at least the spring, and will be joined with the number of other New Yorkers spending their nights in city-run shelters to determine the amount of federal funds to allocate for services to this community.
Also so the city knows how much housing it needs to provide for its residents.
Last year this census – Homeless Outreach Population Estimate (HOPE) – showed that some 3,439 people slept in public places (that is, outside shelters), returning to pre-pandemic levels.
In 2021 there was a reduction in the population, yielding 2,376 cases, a time when some had agreed to sleep in hotels rented by the city because the subway stations where they usually sleep were closed at night to be disinfected at the time of the covid .
LACK OF HOUSING AT LEVELS EXCEEDED ONLY BY THE GREAT DEPRESSION
Most of the homeless population sleeps in city shelters. On January 23, 69,384 people slept in shelters, of which 22,582 were children, according to daily data from the Department of the Homeless.
According to the NGO Coalition for the Homeless, in recent years, homelessness in this city has reached the highest levels since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
The population in the already overcrowded shelters – after many lost their homes to the pandemic – surged with the arrival of 42,000 immigrants, some on their own but mostly bussed from Texas by its Republican Gov. Gregg Abbott.
This situation has created a humanitarian crisis and an urgent demand for funds from the federal and state governments by Mayor Eric Adams, who last night went to a school in Manhattan to thank the volunteers who participated in the “homeless census.”
However, this census only provides an estimate. There is no precise measurement of this population and recent polls significantly underestimate that number, as the Coalition has warned countless times, which also again criticized the count.
CRITICISMS OF THE METHOD
“As we have said time and time again, the HOPE Survey has serious methodological flaws and has no real value as a tool to help understand the scope of the homelessness crisis,” it said in a statement.
“What we do know is that too many New Yorkers must resort to sleeping on the streets and in transit facilities because they don’t have access to better options,” the NGO said.
In a forum prior to the census, held by Catholic Charities, which also provides assistance to the homeless, its executive director, Kevin Sullivan recalled that what leads people to find themselves homeless is the lack of affordable housing, the loss of employment , domestic violence, eviction, addiction and mental health issues.
Starting at nine o’clock at night, the volunteers began to arrive at the school, one of 14 points in the five counties from which this “army” would leave, armed with their good will, several layers of clothing to face the hours they would spend in the street, the list of questions they would ask each person they met, and a map of the area where they would do the census.
After being divided into 17 groups and listening to Adams, they went out to do their job.
Marylin Mergar was one of them and has done it on several occasions: “I participate because I think it is important for the community, since this helps to raise funds and we need to help them. There are many people who want to go to the shelters, who want help, but he doesn’t know how to get it.”
Many homeless people, many with mental health problems, refuse to go to shelters and there is no way to force them. EFE
rh/fjo
