Comptroller Audit Found that Only 3 People Secured Permanent Housing Out of 2,308 Caught in Mayor Adams’ Homeless Sweeps

 

Comptroller Lander proposes establishing “Housing First” program building on proven success for NYC veterans, Denver, and Philadelphia 

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander released an audit of NYC Department of Homeless Services (DHS)’s role in the Adams Administration’s sweeps of homeless encampment sites between March and November 2022. The audit found that the sweeps completely failed to meet their primary goal of connecting homeless individuals with services. Livestream of the announcement is available here.

During these sweeps, DHS outreach participated in the forcible removal of 2,308 people. The audits found that only 90 people stayed in shelter for more than one day. As of January 23, 2023, only 47 people remained in shelter, and only 3 people secured permanent housing.

The sweeps also largely failed to achieve their secondary goal of eliminating encampments. On April 12, 2023, the Comptroller’s auditors visited 99 identified locations where the task force swept in 2022 and found that people rebuilt some form of encampment at 31 sites.

“The evidence is clear: by every measure, the homeless sweeps failed,” said Comptroller Brad Lander.

Rather than continue a failed policy, the Comptroller’s office proposes that New York City establish a large-scale “Housing First” program, an evidence-based practice that prioritizes providing permanent housing without first requiring individuals to enter shelter or graduate through a series of programs or services. To accompany the audit, Comptroller Lander published a policy review of “Housing First” policies around the country. The review found 70-90% of Housing First participants remain stably housed two-to-three years after receiving services, compared to 30-50% of participants in traditional “treatment first” programs and just 0.1% of those in the City’s homeless sweeps.

In addition to case studies from Denver and Philadelphia, the report looks at New York City’s own experience applying a Housing First model to veteran homelessness. The program combines federal housing choice vouchers with case management and support services, such as health care, mental health treatment, and job training. As a direct result, veteran homelessness declined 90% from 4,677 individuals in 2011 to 482 in 2022.

Lander continued, “A decade ago, the City of New York piloted Housing First policies to get homeless veterans into stable housing with remarkable success, reducing veteran homelessness to almost none. With a Housing First approach to street homelessness, combined with upholding the right-to-shelter, New York City could dramatically reduce street homelessness. The city that never sleeps should aspire to have no one sleep on the street.”

New York City recently began a small “Street-to-Housing” pilot, which draws on Housing First principles and seeks to connect up to 80 homeless single adults living on the street with supportive housing. The program, operated by Volunteers of America Greater New York, is a welcome departure from the sweeps: as of April 25, 58 people moved in and 23 of them signed a permanent lease.

Analysis from the Comptroller’s office demonstrates that on the daily cost of housing people in supportive housing is significantly less than traditional shelter settings, hospitalization, or incarceration. Housing an individual in supportive housing costs approximately $68 per day, lower than the approximate $136 per day for shelter, and far less than $1,414 per day in jail at a Rikers detention center, or $3,609 per day for hospitalization.

The report made the following recommendations:

1. End the counterproductive sweeps targeting homeless New Yorkers with involuntary removal. Instead, rely on trained professionals to conduct outreach, provide resources, and connect people to low-barrier housing options.
2. Invest in the expansion of single rooms in Safe Haven shelters and stabilization beds. The Adams Administration expanded the number of safe havens and stabilizations beds, low-barrier programs specifically tailored for individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness who may resist accepting or may not be best served by other services, including traditional shelter settings. These setting proved to be far more successful than traditional shelters at providing stability to individuals who were sleeping on the street.
3. Improve and Expand the City’s Housing First programs. Building on the models from Denver and Philadelphia, New York City’s own experience with homeless veterans, and the Street-to-Housing pilot, the City should establish a large-scale Housing First program that places individuals sleeping on the street into permanent housing with the support services they need. To make this possible, the City should set aside 10% of supportive housing units for Housing First participants, increase the production of supportive housing, and utilize the broader housing stock with appropriate subsidies and services.

“Mayor Adams needs to face the facts evidenced in this report: criminalizing homeless New Yorkers and sweeping unsheltered individuals out of sight is not only deeply inhumane, it is also demonstrably counterproductive.  The only solution to homelessness is housing, and the Housing First model is proven to work.  Until the Mayor fully embraces and adequately funds this model, countless New Yorkers will continue to be relegated to bedding down on our streets and in the transit system,” said Dave Giffen, Executive Director, Coalition for the Homeless. 

“The findings of this audit underscore that the Mayor’s homeless ‘sweeps’ are ineffective and inhumane, and we are proud to join the Comptroller in demanding that the City immediately cease these overly punitive and coercive operations. We must pivot to solutions that limit police presence such as existing homeless outreach teams and expanding safe haven shelters and Housing First programs,” said Joshua Goldfein, supervising attorney in the Homeless Rights Project at The Legal Aid Society.

“The administration’s de facto stance to tackling the ever-growing and worsening homelessness crisis is the rehashing of encampment sweeps and the sustainment of overt policies that criminalize street homelessness. They’ve continued policies and directives that systemically erase and criminalize street homelessness. Instead, we must provide tangible resources in our outreach practices and prioritize permanent and supportive housing placements, access to onsite quality care, and dignified living conditions free from threats of eviction,” said Marcus Moore, Homelessness Union Leader at VOCAL-NY and Picture the Homeless.