Great reporting here. More of this please.
12
Homelessness goes hand in hand with the economy. If it’s good, less homeless, if it’s bad more homeless. DeBlasio has told the police to allow the homeless to stay on the streets. Other mayors removed them and placed them in shelters. Blame the sleeping homeless on the mayor.
5
God bless them all, each and every one. I still find it unfathomable that our country is rich enough to end homelessness, but we don't want to put money into it. Trump and his administration will make the U.S the leader of extreme inequality leading to further homelessness. Los Angeles is the worst when it comes to homelessness. At least our weather is not freezing here. I applaud New York and its social service agencies and outreach workers for all their dedicated hard work.
16
this is not just a New York problem, it's also present in Chicago & am sure every other metropolitan city with a Subway system
3
While it is sad and heartbreaking to see so many homeless, it is known that a percentage of these people do not want help. It is also unfortunate that people paying fares to ride public transit must endure the filth, odor and unsanitariness of so many of these homeless and, yes, vagrants. It unlikely the homeless have paid fares to ride the subways. One cannot lump all homeless in one pigeon hole. Some are addicted, some are mentally ill, some (kids) have been kicked out of home or runaway. It is a mixed bag of people out there. I feel for social workers and social service agencies that deal with the homeless problem. It is another blight on the face of the US (and our government) that we have this tragic problem nationwide. There is enough wealth in this nation that no citizen should be homeless.
17
Again, nothing from Big Bill...if this was the first year of his mayor ship
I would give him a pass and say"give him a chance...." now 4 years in he is as clueless as ever.
With the biggest city payroll EVER...but no room for shelters or guys who can fix boilers ...but wait that is another issue for another day.
7
3900 people in NYC that are homeless? In a city of 9 million nobody has a spare room? Instead of changing fashions this year, how about changing your mind about what you can do to help your fellow man. In other words, clean your mind from these silly reactive fears that keep you from offering help to people who need it. Who is on the Lord's side?
BTW, How many battered womens shelters in LA does OPRAH WINFREY support with her billions? Look it up...not one. All talk...all talk..Miss Talk show host...all talk. Weigh in on that.
5
While we have homeless people in Philadelphia, Sister Mary Scullion and Project H.O.M.E. have done some very good work helping people get off the streets. Does New York City have any similar people and or agencies working on the problem?
3
Heart breaking! In America, the so called richest nation on earth and leader of the free world. Is this was Trump meant when he promised to make America great again?
Why not open up the nice, warm, lobby and clean rest rooms at Trump Tower?
while the POTUS is at Mar a Largo or Camp David or in New Jersey??
7
I feel very sorry for these people but we simply can't afford to give them a warm place to sleep plus a clean place to do what every human being needs to do, but, you see, we need all the money it would take to shelter them for our endless futile wars for oil. Everybody else's oil, that is
17
Time to learn from Utah and implement a housing first strategy for these homeless in cooperation with sister cities across the US to provide for these vulnerable people in the most cost-effective way by giving them housing and the supportive services they need to get better.
15
Maybe the problem is that most of these homeless people are mentally ill, or addicted to substances that make it impossible for them to function in a productive manner. The law generally prohibits the government from forcing these people into hospitals or other settings for treatments, and generally prohibits the government from forcing these people to take medication. The "freedom" given to these people makes it very hard to help them unless they show up at an agency door seeking that help (or outreach efforts succeed in getting them to the agency door). The problem is not the money we spend on the homeless and their problems, the problem is the freedom given to the homeless to refuse treatments that would help them. This is the price we pay for a free society, a society in which mentally ill people and addicted people are free to refuse treatment, no matter how much money we are willing to spend.
22
As a regular E train nighttime commuter from Jamaica in the 1990s, I used to give some homeless people tokens to get them underground during the coldest nights, and joined them on the late-night rides. One time I was fumbling for a token at a turnstile and a dirty hand came around my side and deposited one for me. I recognized her as one of the group. I offered her the change in my pocket but she declined. I said thanks and hurried on.
We talked next time I saw her. Turns out she was a transit cop assigned to monitor the homeless riders undercover. She said I was making her job harder by subsidizing them, but said I was the only one doing it there, and she wasn't going to stop me. Said the group had taken a pledge not to rob me, and to beat up anyone who tried.
45
Wow!
4
We should cease to imply that substance abusers are deserving of being homeless. No human being, no matter what their circumstances are, should be subjected to homelessness. Drug addicts are victims of the vicious cycle of addition, and they need help. Homelessness will only exacerbate their addiction problems.
28
I thought de Blasio promised to solve this problem when he was elected. Instead, the homeless population has risen during his years in office. What about Stephen Banks, that great advocate for the homeless? Now that he is responsible for doing something for the homeless, instead of just suing the City, what is he doing to solve the problem? Between de Blasio and Banks, we were expecting the homeless problem to be solved. Instead, they seem to have made it worse. People can talk all they want about the richest city in the world, but policy choices do matter. The richest city in the world elected Bill de Blasio to solve the problem, de Blasio installed Mr. Banks to be responsible for solving the problem, but what have they done to make the homeless situation better?
6
Part of the problem is people who complain about the "homeless situation" as if it's a sanitation problem.
De Blasio is getting more affordable housing built - that certainly will help. More supportive housing is also needed for those with serious mental health and addiction problems. All of these efforts will take time.
It took many years of neglect and criminalizing homelessness to get to this - and it will take years of building more housing and reaching out to homeless people with compassion and offers of safe shelter and treatment.
Or we could take the Bloomberg approach and just bus them out to the far Rockaways and the Bronx - far from the wealthier neighborhoods and business and tourist areas of Manhattan - and get applauded for "improving the quality of life" for the affluent.
7
While this might not have been an optimum ride for any who were commuting, freezing to death is not a good choice and we don't have enough shelters in this country for all who are homeless.
In California, we had never heard the word "homeless" until Governor Ronald Reagan shut down many of the hospitals for mentally ill. That was before he went on to be the 'greatest' Republican president.
16
You obviously live in subburbia. In LA, the homeless population was small during Reagan but the homeless has been in downtown LA for many years. The tent city downtown has grown now but it was around way before Ronald.
4
Uh yes and no... Yes Reagan shut down hospitals, yes some mental patients went on to be homeless, but some went into group homes and lived better lives than living in an institution for the rest of their lives.
The homeless problem has been aggravated by other factors as well. such as increased rents, lack of good wage jobs, increased globalism and of course more plentiful amounts of addictive drugs available in America.
There is a lot of homelessness in Europe as well did Reagan shut down mental health facilities there also?
3
Obviously the way to solve this appalling situation is with more tax cuts for billionaires.
26
Very good idea Stephen. Let’s give homeless people a tax cut. That should fix it.
4
And of course, more tax breaks for developers of super-luxury coops and condos for mega-wealthy individuals and corporations - including shady foreign investors - that use them primarily as investments or money laundering schemes.
6
They will be richer by Three trillion dollars on the backs of middle class! The cost of fixing the ever broken New York City housing projects is a mere 2 billion. People are freezing inside and outside homes. Sad state of affairs.
3
One issue that never seems to come up in these articles is the problem often termed the Callahan Legacy that stemmed from the case Callahan v. Carey. As a result of this lawsuit, and its progeny, NYC is required to shelter every homeless person in the world who happens to make it to its borders. In short, this abysmal ruling forces NYC to shoulder the burden of housing everyone from all corners of the country and the world. If NYC did not have this responsibility, it is possible that it could devise a homeless system that actually worked. Now, due to the mass influx of homeless, this is not possible. Bloomberg was not simply being snarky when he said the homeless land at JFK and head straight for a shelter.
5
There's no "mass influx" of homeless people invading the city looking for freebies - that's a LIE and Bloomberg was a LIAR.
I work with a program for homeless women - and I can tell you, most who are homeless in NYC either have lived here most of their lives or came here for career opportunities, just as most people do. For a variety of reasons - loss of a job, spouse, or partner, a major illness or disability - and more and more often now, a landlord pushing them out or harassing them - they've become homeless.
Many of the women I've met in this program have jobs - they just can't afford an apartment. Most are well-groomed, well-spoken, and educated. Some previously held executive positions or owned their own businesses, or had successful artistic careers.
Those who came from other parts of the U.S. or other countries decades ago no longer have anyone or anything to "go home" to. Others cannot afford the costs of travel and relocating.
The real "burden" to this city are the developers who get major tax breaks for building super-luxury apartments for mega-wealthy buyers who rarely visit the apartments, but use them as investments or a place to safely launder ill-gotten wealth.
The developers and buyers get big tax breaks - while the rest of us are priced out of the city - and have to pick up the taxes to pay for the infrastructure, police and fire protection, etc. for these buildings.
17
Well I spent several months in Germany last spring and saw no homeless. Maybe we could find out how they do it.
13
Must not have been looking hard enough..they exist there as well
3
Being homeless is not a crime. That we all can agree on. However, the policies and economic realities that have driven so many to live on the streets and in the subways certainly should be. Many of those who are homeless also suffer from mental illness. This often makes them a danger to themselves, subway customers and NYC Transit workers. The City’s high rents and cost of living have also driven many who were once existing on the margins, completely over the edge. The mayor gives lip service for what he is doing for the poor and mentally ill while the problem intensifies. Also, something that is entirely overlooked in this article are the hardships of Transit workers who are left to clean up the defecation and urine left by those who now live in the subway. While they do an exemplary job, I can guarantee that Car Cleaners and Station Cleaners did not sign on to remove human waste.
12
It is sad that these people have no home.
However, if you have ever had any dealings with those that are addicted, it is hard to help them. They have to choose to change their lifestyles. No one can do this for them.
Until they make the choice, all the help and heat and food in the world will only be used to make addictive life more comfortable until the next drink or drug fix.
The lack of a cure for substance abuse does not sentence the rest of us to being labeled as evil.
13
It's hard to deal with substance abuse when you don't even have a roof over your head. Time for a coordinated program that recognizes it's all part of the same package: homelessness, mental illness, substance abuse. We have to start addressing it all.
12
I don't think we approach this correctly, at some level maybe we should have a sleep train that is very welcoming, safe, warm maybe some hot food. I think the article mentions 3900 in need. In a rich society like ours this should be solved.
If you made it attractive more would come, maybe more would get treatment from professionals on hand.
At least it would be our best efforts.
What would Mother Theresa do?
14
What would Jesus do?
2
At the heart of the homeless crisis is the need for a safe place to live and the means to support oneself. In the depths of the Great Depression, the Civilian Conservation Corps, established by the FDR administration, gave people jobs and hope. The CCC was far too restrictive (single men, aged 18 to 27), but it was a step toward solving a human crisis in a humane way.
Living with homelessness has more ramifications than finding a place to sleep to keep from freezing to death in the wintertime. The loneliness, grinding boredom, and anxiety about guarding what little one has are always with the homeless, and life on the street is an endless crisis whatever the weather.
I could not be even remotely considered "well to do," but as I sit in my warm house, eating my breakfast and drinking my coffee. I am aware that, by comparison, I am as rich to the homeless as the top one percent are to me.
I would willingly pay a tax specifically and exclusively directed to finding help for the homeless, and I believe that most Americans would as well.
36
Saint Francis said : we should seek not so much to pray but to become prayer
What an excellent opportunity in the presence of the homeless to become prayer
who knows ?
holy people will be born again and come to wash the feet of the homeless like Jesus did instead of nose high in the air
May angels multiply on their way to perform their healings on the homeless
foxes have dens birds roost but the son of man has no place to lay his head so said that great healer jesus
3
This is sad. We even see this in Philadelphia. Underneath the railroad bridge near Kensington and Lehigh Avenues there is a large homeless population there. Most are addicts. It would be nice if these politicians would get together and find ways to solve this problem. Some of these homeless people are veterans.
18
A collective failure in the richest city in America that we can't keep people off the street. How much longer will the willful ignorance continue? "Which train is the warmest" is a calculation no one should have to make...
13
So what do you suggest? Didn't you reelect Bill de Blasio to do something about the homeless?
Early in the article it mentions "a 40 percent increase over the previous year" in the number of homeless people in NYC. That is a huge increase. Why!? Please give us more information. A 40% increase doesn't just happen for no reason.
24
Perhaps low wage jobs and high rents are a problem.
6
Great city, full of compassion
3
Every city has their homeless, unfortunately their resources become fewer and fewer during harder times. Like today, where we can find tax breaks for the wealthy but cut housing and education for those that can least afford the reductions.
As to compassion, there is great compassion in many expected and unexpected places by many in NYC and all over the globe.
Unfortunately there is also the other side of that coin, like those who complained and looked down upon the evacuees from the New Orleans Superdome who landed in Houston after Katrina as low-lifes and "takers". Those were sad times that showed prejudice and hostility aren't confined to an area, just to mean and hateful people.
16
And billionaire real estate barons.
6
Bless them. I'm glad they found someplace warm and safe to sleep during the cold spell.
20
This fine article exemplifies for me some words attributed to John Kenneth Galbraith: America is a country of public affluence and private squalor.
19
Way to go to make airport access" shine" to NYC visitors (using E-train/Airlink as a means of getting to and from JFK)!
And our dear politicians are doing it again with the newly proposed LaGuardia access link!
Anyone checked their sanity lately?
Our dear politicians are the Democrats we elected to office. Doesn't that tell us something?
What then, dear complainer, is your solution? Name a few cities run by Conservative s that has a zero homeless population. Do that and your point will be made.
2
it is incredibly sad and disturbing situation. yesterday, on a packed 1 train, i was in a tight corner with a homeless man who was sprawled out sleeping across a few seats. When he woke, he took out an empty coke bottle from his bag and urinated in it. between the intense stench and the visual experience, it was all a very upsetting train ride downtown to an appointment.
32
That he did not urinate on the floor indicates some contact with reality, possibly even some thought for others. So sorry you were upset by your ride.
4
I would bet that most homeless individuals see the subway and the rail cars as their last resort since there are only so many shelters available and the number of individuals needing these services are exploding with each passing season. But where else are they to go so they can feel safe, warm and protected from the elements? Most easy and simple questions rarely have easy, simple or quick answers. Homelessness is all too familiar an issue in Chicago, LA, Detroit and especially Hawaii.
Everyone seems to have suggestions, long term remedies coupled with a lot of finger pointing and topped with blame game excuses. But the real simple question is - what and where do the homeless go and do today for relief?
14
NYC has a "Right to Shelter" -- so theoretically, these folks are entitled to decent, safe shelter and the system is required to expand to accomodate them. HOWEVER, the front end of the system continues to be chaotic and unsafe, especially for those suffering from severe and persistent mental illness. The only thing that has made a noticeable dent in this tragedy is permanent housing -- often coupled with ongoing support services. When previous administrations were shamed into funding it on a large scale, the numbers on the streets went down dramatically. Cuomo and De Blasio need to step up their efforts to provide what has been proven over time to be the lasting solution.
Offering a van ride to the shelter system is not a a meaningful offer of help for those most in need!
8
At least in LA and Hawaii the homeless don't freeze to death.
2
I don't know what the answer is and I agree these people deserve safety, warmth, nutrition, and health care. But not in the subway. It is by definition unsafe. Many of these people are perfectly nice and friendly if sober and most are because they can't afford a drink. but a distressing number are unhygienic and unclean. Every new Yorker is familiar with the odor and it is inevitably rotting skin. It can clear out an entire train car. When you see an empty train at rush hour you know why before you recklessly nevertheless try to enter and you are driven back by the fumes.
Those people do not have a right to stay and the care workers, bless their hearts, are wrong. Their very presence obstructs the subway service and they are frequently the possible source of dangerous infection. I don't dare having my kids with me at those times. It is irresponsible to claim they have a right to be there.
Again they have an absolute right to warmth, nutrition, health care, and safety. But others have the same right. The problem is not solved by respecting their nonexistent agency and right to be there. That's a transparent failure to help all of us get through life.
52
Where should the homeless go?
4
It is a lifesaver. And if it is a problem, welcome to SoCal’s problem on a different scale.
3
“They” want the same things “we” do a safe home, a job, a life with friends, being “normal”. Spending money on a tax break for the wealthiest, or on a wall instead of helping the neediest among us speaks loudly to our national priorities. Shame on us.
38
This is a sad conundrum, indeed. Since quite a large percentage of the homeless are mentally ill, it would be unnerving to have to board a train after midnight as a female with four or five men sleeping (or not) on the benches of the train knowing that some of them may be mentally ill or have criminal inclinations.
On the other hand, the homeless need to get out of the freezing weather, and as many of them are leery of the shelters, there is no other place for them to go. So for the moment, that seems the only viable option open to them.
Wouldn't it be possible (for the short term), for more of the churches, temples, and mosques to open their doors to the homeless where they could offer them blankets and meals? Certainly, most could afford it.
The only long-term solutions I can think of would be, to build more shelters out of crates and the like so people would not be afraid to sleep in them and could hold on to their meager possessions, and to have more effective care for the mentally ill. It should also be effective to create small jobs in the maintenance of their shelters for those who are able to work which would help to offset costs and help the homeless to feel more useful.
19
Although not the main point of the article per se, I have to comment about the churches, etc., opening their doors overnight. I can't speak for large, wealthy congregations, but I am very familiar with one very small church in Chicago. My friend of many years, its minister, is the only full-time employee. There is a barely part-time janitor. All other work is already done, or not done, by a few volunteers. It isn't easy to secure a reliable commitment from some of them even for a few hours. Who, in congregations like this, would be available to be present for a long, serious commitment like this? So no, all congregations can't do this. Most of the ones that can, are already doing it.
9
Crates aren’t good enough. People need at least a room. SROs were destroyed many years ago to make room for more luxury housing.
Small jobs, good, but they have to pay. Low wage jobs cause homelessness.
How long do you think you could be homeless before losing your mind?
5
Well, your point is well taken, though I did specify the ones that could afford it. Most of the homeless tend to congregate in the big cities where the churches are larger and have more means. You cannot tell me that the churches overall, especially the Catholic church don't have enough funds. You may notice, also, that I said "for the moment" not for a long serious commitment. For that, I wrote the last paragraph.
To make a comment on a comment, it is useful to read the entire comment.
1
I have noticed this on the E this year. I am grateful people have some place of last resort to go.
But this sentence made me laugh out loud: "...as it makes its 50-minute transit between Jamaica Center in Queens and the World Trade Center..." As one of the most crowded and "disabled" of the trains, the E hasn't made a 50-minute trip in years. No matter what time of day. No matter what day.
12
“Many are obviously homeless and other people are less so, but these are fragile people,” Mr. Rosenblatt said. “They’re fearful, they’re distrusting. They’re struggling with mental health issues.”
The last sentence is probably the biggest key. Chicago is experiencing similar issues with their rail cars and the plethora of homeless occupying them. But this issue is a complex and complicated one and there are no real permanent quick fix solutions. Human Services and other various city social agencies need to develop a strategy and plan for this increasing and deplorable issue. And shelters aren't always the answer. My brother (who suffers from bi-polar issues) was homeless for a many, many months, especially during the winter. He flat out refused to go to a shelter because he hated the rules (in by 9 p.m. and out by 8 a.m.) and hated the restrictions. He also felt less safe (as paradoxical as that sounds).
This issue has many dimensions and tiers of problems and the answers are involved and will take years to solve, or at least minimize. The biggest stumbling block is where will the money come from to help and/or solve this problem? Finding decent jobs for the homeless is one answer, but treating individuals with mental health issues is extremely difficult and complicated, especially in cases like my brother who refused any kind of help, assistance or treatment. At least for my brother, he asked for help when he was near death's door and survived.
25
Shelter rules are often akin to prison rules. I realize there have to *be* rules, but IMO shelter rules in NYC seem designed to be punitive. If you're feeling unwell, if you just need a little more sleep, whatever - there is just no leniency and no sense that the shelter is actually dealing with HUMAN BEINGS. Which may be the city's (and the shelter system's) greatest failure.
14
I agree with your comment L. My brother said pretty much the same thing. If you were 1 minute late in the evening, you were not allowed in. I can understand the black and white rules as such, but the moment humanity is removed from the equation, so is the purpose and goal of these places. It's akin to "we want to help out - but to a point." I think it's a sad and deplorable situation all around.
6
Where are the homeless expected to go when they are kicked out of the shelter at 6am? People complain no matter where they go.
3
I wonder if New Yorkers will go for this plan: how about setting up the homeless for 2 years in rent free housing- nothing fancy, a fridge, microwave, and bed at most (a bathroom as well of course). Make it so that within those two years they have to find a job and become financially stable, if they are close to that goal then extend the deadline in a case by case basis. If they haven’t made anything then remove them for the next person. I feel that many homeless people just can’t get out of the life because they have the simple worry of where they will sleep that night. Also, who is going to hire a person who smells like a dumpster in summer? Our society seems to punish the poor for being poor. L to try some compassion for a bit and see what happens. Perhaps the money president trump has earmarked for the wall can be used for this? This program would have to be tried for about 10 years to begin to see its effectiveness.
23
There is no money earmarked to build the Mexican border wall ...in fact Trump stressed that Mexico would pay for it all....that is not going to happen and the idea of the wall is absurd. So how about using our tax $ to actually help Americans who have been displaced for one reason or another...there are not actually good jobs out there and affordable housing is non existent thanks to all the high end cash only real estate people who have done so much damage to our housing market....their greed knows no bounds. Who can continue to ignore the homeless people? They are not all addicts, alcoholics and mentally ill. Many are Vets. Living on the streets is so harsh it will destroy even the staunchest person. Time is spent just trying to survive and try getting a job without an address, phone & internet is impossible. The problem is not to create more shelters but to stop the growth of homelessness......what is causing it and why is it happening to so many people including families...it's shameful and this is what visitors see when they come to the great USA.....Charles Dickens would cringe to see what is happening here today.
9
Most of these people are not employable by any standard. If you suffer from drug addiction and/or mental illness, rent-free housing on the hard-working taxpayer's dime is not the solution.
9
We know what is causing it: the lack of affordable homes. The lack of living wage jobs.
3
Let's not yet again debate and lament the plight of the homless. The subways are a mode of transportation, and not a rolling domicile for the mentally ill. Absent from the article are the acrid odors these few thousand people emit and the general health and safety problem they present to the millions of riding public. Let's not debate the quality of the shelter system or how these folks came to ride the trains. Someone quoted in this article says these folks have a 'right' to ride the trains. I vehemently disagree. They may well have a right to access shelter services, and train and/or police staff need to remove these folks and send them to shelters. As a paying MTA rider and taxpayer, these folks' presence on almost every train is unacceptable and disgraceful and needs to end. When I see them, what I see is that someone - MTA, police, or other, is not doing their job.
43
@Dave Miller: What you are seeing is multiple mayors who did not do their job.
4
Wow, I can't think of a suitable response to you except, sleep well tonight. But you will.
10
This is the sort of callousness to human suffering that lets this problem continue to exist and expand.
12
I would wager that most of these vulnerable homeless people suffered from brain diseases like schizophrenia, depression, maybe even Alzheimer's disease. It was a good thing that they had somewhere to escape freezing on the streets. Bless those who are compassionately helpful to them.
Another solution would be to fund the scientific research that will eventually find cures for now-incurable human brain diseases. Until we fund such research, more desperate, sick people will bear the same poverty that these unlucky citizens all suffer because we will not finance the appropriate scientific research to eradicate these no-fault brain diseases.
29
Research is being done all the time. The key question is what is to be done with these folks in the many years that it may take to find the cure for some of these ailments and how to insure/assure that the ones who would be OK on medications ... do take those medications. There was a time when many institutions for the chronically and/or incurably ...mentally ill... were housed at considerable public expense. Closing of many of these facilities has not helped what is noted on subways, Penn Station and similar venues.
14
But can’t you see that being homeless will make you crazy?
3
One reason the subway has become a shelter of last resort is because the City’s media savvy mayor ( who spews progressive rhetoric) has failed to provide adequate shelter for the homeless. I live in State Colllege PA where from a distance Mayor de Blassio appears to be competent and caring.
Unfortunately, by misadventure, a trip this summer to New York resulted in my being housed for two nights in a homeless shelter. The City employees who operate the intake process do so in a filth-laden environment where contempt for the homeless is palpable. The facility where I slept in Brooklyn would have made Charles Dickens’ London benevolent by comparison.
Consider:
http://www.joelsolkoff.com/two-days-homeless-shelter-brooklyn/
32
It is well known that one reason the homeless stay away from shelters is the lack of safety and courtesy they are known for. Yes, I said courtesy. Those who staff these shelters should have to spend at least a week in the elements 24/7 as part of their training, though I would bet they receive almost no training for the job.
7
This is the New York City that de Blasio has wrought. Homeless, hopeless and destitute everywhere you turn. And what does he do about it? He goes to Iowa to set the table for his own presidential run. Democrats, you elected him. Now you can see the results of your perpetual one party votes, if you are willing to take off the blinders.
13
The largest increase in the homeless population happened under Bloomberg's tenure, mainly due to ending of voucher programs. It has actually leveled off under de Blasio's tenure. A little research would go a long way.
25
@paul: Nope! This is the NYC that BLOOMBERG has wrought, and that De Blasio has done little to change.
Bloomberg is the one who said NYC was a "luxury" brand and that not everyone could afford to live here - and he made that come true. Bloomberg also had no interest in helping the homeless, and his 12 years in office are 12 years of deliberate neglect/indifference to the needs of the poor, the disadvantaged, and the homeless. The results of that neglect are now evident.
12
Of course Bloomberg was a saint, God bless his soul...
1
Perhaps a special car with showers and hot soup should be added to the trains, sure it would attract more of them but the better condition they are in the less offensive they are to regular passengers. In my view these people are victims and somehow are asked to fend for themselves in a world that rejects them. It's a fate worse than death.
65
No, I repeat No, civilized society has the right to brag to the world about its superiority as long as the problem of homelessness is remains unresolved.
11
Instead of spending billions on a wall that we do not need, we need to spend money on housing for the homeless.
126
Trump and the Republicans don't respond to logic or human kindness.
6
Why in this great society are people allowed to live this way? Would not housing in an institution with provision of hot meals, necessary medication, and industriousness in some kind of productive activity not be better than this waste? We need to rethink our approach to homelessness and the mentally ill.
91
The answer is because it’s not a great society . It’s a society where people are expected to fend for themselves.
12
The Lanerman Act and its sister laws have made it impossible to take mentally ill people in for help until they harm themselves or others. You are right htough, better to be committed to a clean safe place,then the streets.
8
We have a HUGE homeless problem in the SF Bay Area. Our weather is much “easier” on “sleeping rough”, so our homeless population keeps increasing...
The majority of the “hardcore” homeless are in their situation due to either or a combination of mental illness and substance abuse... their families are unable to deal with their issues (one mentally ill person or a severe substance abuser will easily destroy a family), there are not enough beds in psychiatric units, homeless shelters “have rules” that these individuals are unable or unwilling to follow... so... sleeping rough is their “best option”...
HUGE problem with homeless encampments everywhere: they leave lots of trash, including “dirty needles” & drug residues (makes cleaning up difficult and expensive)...
Frankly I would prefer to see these individuals institutionalized so they get the help they desperately need (& can eventually be re-integrated back into society as productive members)...
Definitely preferable to the unsafe, filthy encampments. I don’t appreciate my small children seeing “open drug use”, “sexual acts”, “public urination or defecatation”, used, dirty needles in park playgrounds (making them unsafe and unusable for children)...
The hardcore homeless rights to “do as they please” ENDS when they “trash” public spaces, making them unsafe or unusable by other members of society (who, often are taxpayers, footing the bills for welfare, cleaning up the trash, maintaining public spaces)...
5
These people are not "homeless," i.e., someone down on his luck -- they are mentally ill. It is a tribute to the incompetence of City government that it collects many billions in taxes but is unable to deal with the armies of the mentally ill roaming the streets and camping out in the subways. The disorder in NYC always increases with incompetent Mayors such as Bill DiBlasio, David DInkins, Abe Beame -- all incompetent democratic party hacks. Imagine if billions had not been corruptly wasted on the subway extensions as so well documented by the NYT on 28 December what could have been done for these mentally ill people and the rest of us who have to use the subways to get to work rather than as a sleeping car.
15
Give me a break blaming Democrat mayors. I've lived in New York since 1977 and it's been a problem under every mayor, including Beame, Koch, Giuliani and Bloomberg, regardless of economic boom times or recession. There have never been any easy answers, and trying to blame one political party or another isn't going to get us anywhere.
46
@Jack: You left out Bloomberg, the deliberately uncaring Republican hack. Imagine if Bloomberg had used his connections & power, over the course of 12 years in office, to help create a better way to get help to people in desperate need! What a lost opportunity.
PS: If you think NOT building the 2nd Avenue subway would have led to that money being used to help these people, you are living in fantasy-land.
9
Abe Beame brought New York City back from the threat of bankruptcy.
5
These people are homeless because they don't want to work or conform to a normal society. 24 female, GED and some college and can't get a job. I have jobs all around me in Philly. You have to leave NY City to get a job. Stop blaming the system and move out of the CIty to a place that has jobs and not 8 million people looking for jobs.
15
Sam Snead, Perhaps you should come and take this woman under your wing in Philly until she is employed and housed. One-on-one. With opinions like yours, I would bet that you sit at a computer all day and know nothing about being homeless.
6
Your response is simplistic. People with severe mental illness are often unemployable.
10
That happens to be the most insensitive ignorant comment I've seen in years. Most of these people have mental health and substance abuse issues. You think shipping them to the Harrisburg is going to make them fit to keep a job and take care of themselves?
You know what, I think Mayor de Blasio should give every one of these homeless a ticket to Harrisburg and let YOU take care of them.
7
I’m sure trump’s planning on building a wall to keep them out.
18
Incredibly sad.....
26
Mass homeless transit; keep the poor moving. Our society is sick.
13
Nothing brings the plight of the homeless to the front-burner of human consciousness more effectively than a prolonged spate of extreme weather, be it either hot or cold. But this recent 'Arctic Blast' was particularly brutal, not only for its intensity, but for its longevity, and it was hard not to think of what millions of our fellow New Yorkers had to endure under its icy grip, even if it meant the inconveniece of having them stretched out, or huddled together in subway cars.
That the homeless population continues to rise, while the rate of luxury housing increases, says a lot more about the priorities of this city than it does about them.
Granted, some are substance abusers, some are even mentally fragile, but there's no doubt that there are those who have simply been priced out of their neighborhoods.
And for all its good intentions, building more temporary shelters is not the solution -- building more affordable housing is.
53
If not plagued by substance abuse/drug addiction and/or mental illness, these people who have been supposedly priced out of NYC still do not have to be homeless. Working a $7-10 hr job in many other areas of the country will afford someone to live a decent life. I've experienced this in Phoenix (where a nice 2 bedroom/2 bath was renting for $750) and heard tales from recent transplants of other places (South, middle of the country) where rents are around $400 for a basic 1 bedroom. So, is this really an excuse?
2
Most New Yorkers don't want to live outside of New York. This is not an "excuse" -- it is a reason.
And just for the record, there are also people who are homeless even though they're employed at jobs paying more than $7-10 and hour.
Any way you look at it, we need more affordable housing here.
4
It was 3,400 people mentioned in the article. How did N. Smith get it up to "millions".
1
I live in central Queens and take the E train pretty often to stops in Queens and in midtown. I've been seeing homeless people stretched out on the seats of the trains like in these photos going back several years, and not just in the wintertime.
23
As a user of the AirTrain from JFK and a native New Yorker, I am constantly embarrassed at the first view of my city for overseas travelers. Is this the welcome to the U.S.A. that this country wants to present? We have to treat all our people better. There are services for the homeless, this does not have to be. This is our Katrina everyday.
56
There ARE services for the homeless, but first you have to get them to take advantage of them. Has everybody forgotten Mayor Koch's run-in with Billie Boggs?
1
Why not? For a long period of time that I have taken the E train at 6 a.m. at the World Trade Center last stop, the cars were filled with homeless people as described in this article. When an influx of early workers entered the train at Penn Station, a shift in passengers took place. Recently, however, the E train has been empty of homeless people at the World Trade Center and I wondered where they went. If warm subway trains travel almost empty during the night, what harm is there if the homeless use them to sleep? The trains are not a five star hotel exactly, and the MTA would do better to manage the Interborough buses during the work commute that never arrive .
19
No harm, except it's called 'quality of life', and ours keeps going down. Get it?
4
Get used to it because homelessness will continue to rise.
2
I appreciate that this article describes a level of compassion on the part of the Mayor's office and others quoted here. I appreciate also the relief from the usual stereotypes and dismissive objectification of the homeless. Having experienced a version of housing insecurity myself for 18 months (hopping from friend to friend, on sofas, in attics, basements), my heart goes out to all who have it so much worse, almost unimaginably worse, as it is a life-threatening state of being for so many in this wealthy nation.
83
Serious Mental Health and drug/alcohol treatment in the State and City are not getting the attention and funding that is needed to effectively deal with this National problem. it's a health menace and recent outbreaks of hepatitis in southern California is where we will be headed if it's not cleaned up soon.
Though they all talk a good game, I see committees being created to study Statues....and leadership spending tax payers money to sue the Federal Government over the new Tax law.
Priorities are out of synch with what most hard working, tax paying citizens require to support their family and live a good life.
14