New finding: Dept of Homeless Services denied 80% of family shelter applications in FY22.
Subsidized placements have a 95+% success rate but are increasingly expensive amidst rising housing costs
The New York City Comptroller’s office undertook a comprehensive review of the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) to examine the challenges in supporting homeless single adults and families at a time when the shelter system is expanding rapidly due to the arrival of asylum seekers, and rents have skyrocketed making permanent housing placements more difficult.
Far from being an “open door” system, the review found that only 1-in-5 families and only 1-in-10 single adults who presented themselves at one of DHS’ intake centers were deemed eligible for shelter in Fiscal Year 2022.
During the period under review, the average length of stay in the shelter system far exceeded a year, or two years in the case of adult families, and increased from fiscal year 2021 to fiscal year 2022 (The review covers FY21 and FY 22, prior to the significant increase in the arrival of asylum seekers).
The review found that subsidized placements in permanent housing were highly successful. 95% of single adults and 99% of families who secured a placement into supportive housing or NYCHA, or through CityFHEPS or other vouchers succeeded in not returning to the shelter system after a year. However, these placements became scarcer and more expensive as rents skyrocketed over the past year.
Auditors also found that in many cases, DHS failed to adequately track its engagements with chronically homeless people, its efforts to divert people out of the shelter system, the services provided to clients in shelter, and the people returning to shelter over a year later.
“At a time when rents are skyrocketing and the shelter system is bursting at its seams, we need to focus on what works. That means redoubling our efforts to build affordable and supportive housing, providing subsidies to homeless families to reduce their time in the shelter system, scaling up effective ‘housing first’ programs for people who are sleeping on the street, and helping new arrivals apply for asylum and work authorization so they can move out of shelter on their own,” said Comptroller Brad Lander.
DHS oversees a network of over 360 contracted shelters– of the contracted shelters: the largest number were in the Bronx and Brooklyn (109), Manhattan had 78, Queens had 62, and Staten Island with only two as of April 2023. DHS directly runs 1 shelter for families with children, 2 for adult families, and 7 for single adults. Single adults make up the largest share of the shelter system, representing 72% of the people in shelter. The average length of stay for adult families is over 28 months, families with children is over 17 months, and single adults is over 16 months.
Pathways In
The pathway into shelter is onerous for families, either with children or adults, who face a screening process. DHS only deemed 1-in-5 families with children eligible and 1-in-10 adult families eligible for shelter in FY2022. In February 2022, the New York City Comptroller’s Audit of DHS’ Prevention Assistance and Temporary Housing (PATH) intake center found that personnel denied 42% out of 46,200 family applications without adequately investigating housing history.
The shelter system is increasing daily with the population in DHS shelters reaching 81,630 as of July 2023, including asylum seekers. Single adults filed 34.3% of shelter applications, the majority being families.
- While DHS conducted 99,421 outreach engagements and spent $61.4 million in calendar year 2022, DHS does not have a unified system for tracking engagements with street homeless people.
- In FY22, DHS placed people in Safe Haven beds 2069 times and in stabilization beds 1311 times.
- The average length of stay in Safe Haven was over 400 days, while stay in stabilization beds was 307 days in FY 2022.
- To help reduce street homelessness, DHS increased the number of clients in Safe Haven and stabilization beds by over 780 beds in 2022.
- DHS screens adult families and families with children for shelter eligibility and in FY22: families with children filed 57.8% of applications. DHS deemed only 19% of families with children and 11% of adult families eligible for shelter placement.
- From March 2023 DHS Local Law 37 reporting, over 57% of families with children submitted more than 1 application, 7.2% submitted six or more applications; over 61% of adult families submitted more than one application, with 17% submitting six or more applications.
- DHS determined 28,014 family with children applications as ineligible; DHS found 23,903 (82%) applications due to an incomplete housing history, failed to cooperate, or did not meet family make up criteria. The rest were ineligible because they had other housing options available, like family, friends, or other means of housing.
- Of the 3,627 diversions for families (with children and adults) in FY22, 2907 (80%) occurred pre-application, while 720 (20%) occurred post-application.
- DHS does not break out types of diversion strategies or success rate, making it hard to determine positive or negative outcomes.
Pathways Out
The review found that 95% of single adults and 99% of families who secured a subsidized housing placement– supportive housing, NYCHA, CityFHEPS, or other vouchers– succeeded in not returning to the shelter system after a year.
Pathways out of shelter without any subsidy will become exceedingly more difficult as rent skyrockets, which is currently at a peak of $3,500 per month for a 1-bedroom as of June 2023. In the review, DHS officials pointed to the extremely low supply and high demand for units that are affordable to people currently in shelter as their biggest challenge placing people in permanent housing.
- DHS placed 12,757 households into permanent housing in FY22, and 14,226 in FY21, a 1,469 decline.
- In FY21 and FY22, 76% of the total of 26,983 placements were subsidized.
- Of those placed in permanent housing, 55% were single adults, who also counted for the highest rate of return. One-in-five single adults who received a housing placement without a subsidy later returned to shelter within a year.
- NYCHA placements made up only 8.1% of FY22 subsidized placements, with Emergency Housing Vouchers (either through NYCHA or Department of Housing Preservation) making up another 4.8%.
- Of those who left shelter, more than half shelter residents (52%) exited the shelter system on their own in FY21.
- 68% of street homeless people exited low-entry beds.
- 28% of street homeless people exited with a subsidy.
- Through December 2022, 5805 households received subsidized placement, 77% of them receiving CityFHEPS vouchers.
- Only 9% of street homeless people in Safe Haven or stabilization bed obtained supportive housing.
- The street homeless individuals with some subsidy, 605 people (75%) exited into supportive housing and 94 (12%) through CityFHEPS in FY21 and FY22.
- In FY22, 1574 (12%) households found their way to supportive housing.
To read more about the Comptroller’s solution to reducing street homelessness, read the Housing First report released in June 2023.
Read the audit Review of the New York City Department of Homeless Services’ Programs and Services.
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