China News Service, June 20. According to the US "World Journal" report, the New York City Department of Social Services (DSS) recently released the latest statistics. The number of homeless people in the city has risen to the highest point before the epidemic. There are nearly 3,500 people in the five districts every night. Famous homeless people live on the streets; Manhattan Chinatown, on the basis of the existing seven homeless places, insists that the city homeless bureau (DHS) will add a homeless place at 91 East Broadway, and residents are worried that Chinatown will become a homeless village.
The DHS releases the "Homeless Outreach Population Estimate" (HOPE) report every year. According to the latest data in the report, the number of homeless people in the city has risen to the high point before the epidemic, with about 3,439 homeless people living on the streets every night. During the pandemic, the number of people staying in homeless shelters soared to more than 2,000 in a quarter, a surge the city has not seen since 2018.
"We suspect it's less than the actual number," said Kathleen Cash, a representative for the Urban Justice Center's Safety Net Project, which helps homeless people connect with the city, because of the number of volunteers involved in the homeless count during the pandemic. decline, so the current statistics may not reflect the actual situation.
Cash also said that the surge in the number of homeless people is an indisputable fact. "Due to the changes in the city's homeless policy, the city government has closed all hotels for homeless people to live in." During the communication with the homeless people, she found that the city government decided to close the hotels and concentrate on using homeless people. The changes in the hotel's policy have caused the homeless to return to the streets. "They think the hotel is the safest shelter, at least better than the existing homeless."
New York City's homeless and shelter policy changes, according to the city government, the city homeless bureau (DHS) will completely stop using commercial hotels as homeless places in 2023, reducing the total number of homeless places in the city by 45%, emptying the current 360, and then building About 90 high-quality Borough-Based Shelters.
Among them, many places in Chinatown have been selected by the City Homeless Bureau to build multiple homeless places, causing residents to protest.
Only recently did the authorities hold a closed-door meeting with the Chinatown community, saying that the site selection for 91 East Broadway will be signed, and the opening is imperative. A regional leader said that Chinatown already has seven homeless facilities that can serve daily There are 1,500 homeless people, concentrated in the Chinese community. The name is to meet the needs of the community, but there are not so many Chinese homeless people.
According to the City Homeless Bureau, the homeless place at 91 East Broadway is currently negotiating with the landlord and is expected to sign a contract in the near future and start operations in 2023.
(Zhang Xin)