Jocelyn E. Strauber, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Investigation (“DOI”), issued a Report today that examined two separate and unrelated allegations regarding the Prevention Assistance and Temporary Housing Intake Center (“PATH”). PATH is an intake facility in the Bronx for families with children seeking shelter provided by the City Department of Homeless Services (“DHS”), an agency that is part of the City Department of Social Services (“DSS”). First, DOI investigated DSS’s identification of, and disclosure to City Hall and others of, a July 18, 2022 incident in which four families who arrived at PATH before 10 p.m. remained there overnight. The overnight stays violated longstanding DHS policy that families arriving at PATH by 10 p.m. be provided with a shelter placement and transported out of the intake center by 4 a.m. the following morning, a policy referred to in the Report as the “10-to-4 Rule”. Second, DOI investigated an allegation that DSS manipulated the publicly-reported 30-day eligibility rate of homeless families with children applying for DHS shelter from mid-2017 through early to mid-2022. The Report describes DOI’s findings regarding both allegations and the six recommendations DOI issued to DSS as a result. A copy of the Report is attached to this release and can be found at the following link: https://www.nyc.gov/site/doi/newsroom/public-reports.page
DOI Commissioner Jocelyn E. Strauber said, “This in-depth, 18-month investigation tackled two complex and distinct issues involving the City’s PATH Center. First, DOI found weaknesses in PATH’s policies and procedures applicable to tracking the entry and exit times of families seeking shelter, among other issues, which limited DSS’s ability to timely identify and report violations of DSS’s policies concerning the provision of shelter to those families (the “10-to-4 Rule”) in the summer of 2022. Second, DOI identified an intentional and yearslong effort within DSS to manipulate the number of families eligible for shelter on a daily basis, dating from 2017 through early to mid-2022, in order to control the Monthly Eligibility Rate, a publicly-reported figure. Accuracy and transparency are critical to government operations, and DOI’s recommendations seek to improve DSS’s procedures and to facilitate the collection and reporting of correct information concerning families in need of shelter.”
Allegations Regarding DSS’s Identification and Disclosure of Violations of the “10-to-4” Rule in the Summer 2022
On July 18, 2022, executive leadership at DSS and DHS were notified that four families who arrived at the DHS PATH Intake Center before 10 p.m. on July 17 remained in the PATH building until after 4 a.m. on July 18, and thus were not en route to temporary shelter by 4 a.m. in violation of the 10-to-4 Rule. The 10-to-4 Rule is a DHS policy, in place for at least two decades, based on Section 21-313 of the New York City Administrative Code. Section 21-313 requires DHS to provide “temporary shelter placement for that night” (including transportation) to any family with minor children “in the process of applying” for DHS services as of 10 p.m. in the evening. Subsequent to these events — and in light of the ongoing influx of migrant families in need of shelter in New York City — the 10-to-4 Rule was, and remains, temporarily suspended. DOI’s investigation into the above-described violations and surrounding events found significant gaps in PATH’s record-keeping concerning the entry and exit times of families at the PATH facility. Due to those gaps, and deficiencies in DSS’s compliance and staff training relating to the 10-to-4 Rule, DSS Leadership (and City Leadership) were unaware of additional violations of the 10-to-4 Rule. The investigation also exposed a lack of full transparency by former DSS Commissioner Gary Jenkins in his initial discussions with City Hall about the July 18 incident. City Leadership disclosed the four violations that occurred on July 18 during a press conference on July 21 and thereafter, in August, City leadership identified and disclosed a fifth violation that had occurred on July 19th.
the evening. Subsequent to these events — and in light of the ongoing influx of migrant families in need of shelter in New York City — the 10-to-4 Rule was, and remains, temporarily suspended. DOI’s investigation into the above-described violations and surrounding events found significant gaps in PATH’s record-keeping concerning the entry and exit times of families at the PATH facility. Due to those gaps, and deficiencies in DSS’s compliance and staff training relating to the 10-to-4 Rule, DSS Leadership (and City Leadership) were unaware of additional violations of the 10-to-4 Rule. The investigation also exposed a lack of full transparency by former DSS Commissioner Gary Jenkins in his initial discussions with City Hall about the July 18 incident. City Leadership disclosed the four violations that occurred on July 18 during a press conference on July 21 and thereafter, in August, City leadership identified and disclosed a fifth violation that had occurred on July 19th.
Allegation Related to DHS’s Manipulation of Public-Facing Shelter Eligibility Data
DOI’s investigation substantiated a separate allegation that from June 2017 through early to mid-2022, DHS Administrator Joslyn Carter and her subordinates, acting at her direction, artificially lowered PATH’s publicly-reported Monthly Eligibility Rate by delaying DHS’s final determination that families had been deemed eligible for shelter, when there was no legitimate reason for that delay. The rate is published on NYC Open Data, and reflects the percentage of families seeking DHS shelter who are found eligible for shelter each month. The City uses the PATH Eligibility Rate for census forecasting, shelter capacity planning, and budgeting for rental assistance vouchers and shelter beds.
Administrator Carter told DOI that she acted at the direction of former DSS Commissioner Steven Banks (who led the agency from April 2015 until December 2021) and who instructed her to decrease the Monthly Eligibility Rate in light of then-Mayor Bill de Blasio’s concerns about increases in the rate. Former Commissioner Banks acknowledged that he paid attention to fluctuations in the rate and at times discussed it with then-Mayor de Blasio and other senior Administration officials but denied knowledge of or involvement in any manipulation of the Monthly Eligibility Rate. DOI found that both Administrator Carter and former Commissioner Banks provided credible accounts with respect to their understanding of and involvement with the Monthly Eligibility Rate during the relevant time period, and each account is corroborated in certain respects. However, their accounts are irreconcilable as to the question of whether former Commissioner Banks knew of and directed Administrator Carter to engage in the data manipulation and DOI was not able to corroborate that claim.
In its investigation, DOI was unable to assess the full impact of DHS’s manipulation of the Monthly Eligibility Rate due chiefly to limitations in the available data. However, witnesses uniformly told DOI that DHS’s method of manipulating the Monthly Eligibility Rate did not have any substantive impact on the ultimate eligibility determinations (i.e., no eligible family was coded as ineligible for shelter due to the manipulation). Witnesses also told DOI that the manipulation did not cause any families to be denied shelter for which they were eligible, because they were able to remain in their existing DHS shelter on a conditional basis while their eligibility determination was pending. However, the practice could have delayed the transition of unhoused families from DHS shelter into permanent housing.
Witnesses informed DOI that DHS’s manipulation of the Monthly Eligibility Rate ended around early- to mid2022, when it became apparent that the new mayoral and DSS administrations were not focused on the Monthly Eligibility Rate. DOI found no evidence that former DSS Commissioner Gary Jenkins, current DSS Commissioner Molly Wasow Park, or anyone in the current mayoral administration had any knowledge of the manipulation.
In light of the findings described above, DOI made six Policy and Procedure Recommendations to DSS to address these issues:
1: DSS should design and implement a process to ensure families’ arrival and departure times at PATH are consistently and accurately documented.
2: The process described in Recommendation #1 should be fully automated.
3: Once the process described in Recommendation #1 is implemented, and regardless of whether Recommendation #2 has already been implemented, DSS should conduct regular audits to ensure that the process is functioning as intended and that client movements into, within, and out of PATH are easily discernible.
4: DSS should create a written procedure detailing the requirements of the right to shelter for homeless families with minor children. This procedure should include provisions on the reporting of 10-to-4 Rule violations up the chain within DHS/DSS leadership, City Hall, and the public.
5: DSS should provide regular training to PATH staff and DHS/DSS leadership concerning the requirements of the right to shelter for homeless families with minor children, and DHS’s obligations and policies with respect to the same.
6: In light of the manipulation of publicly-reported data confirmed by DOI, DSS should design and implement an internal audit process intended to ensure the integrity of all data that DHS makes public.
This investigation was conducted by Confidential Investigator Daniel Malvey, former DOI Legal Fellow Mirelis Gonzalez, and Inspector General Audrey Feldman, with the assistance of Deputy Inspector General Jeremy Reyes and Inspector General John Bellanie, under the guidance of Deputy Commissioner of Strategic Initiatives Christopher Ryan and Deputy Commissioner/Chief of Investigations Dominick Zarrella.
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