NEW YORK (Sputnik) — The number of children that stayed in New York homeless shelters last year reached record numbers, according to a report by the New York-based advocacy group Coalition for the Homeless.
“An all-time-record 116,000 different New Yorkers, including 42,000 different children, slept at least one night in the New York City shelter system,” the report stated.
These record numbers are a direct result of the lack of affordable housing throughout New York City, Coalition for the Homeless Deputy Director Patrick Markee said.
“Last year’s rise in homelessness was the result of New York City’s worsening housing affordability crisis, the lingering effect of Bloomberg-era elimination of housing for homeless children and families, and the failure of the State and City to act quickly enough to restore desperately-needed permanent housing resources for homeless New Yorkers,” Markee stated.
The report also noted that disproportionate number of minorities stay in shelters, as one in 31 African-American families and one in 57 Latino families spent a night in a shelter last year, compared to one in 615 white families.
The reason, Markee argued, is because of the vast difference in poverty rates.
“The disproportionate impact of homelessness on African-American and Latino New Yorkers is in large part a reflection of the higher poverty rates for non-white New Yorkers,” Markee explained.
Poverty rates among African-American and Latino families, 19.6 percent and 26.4 percent respectively, are much higher than the 8.1 percent rate among white families, according to US Census Bureau estimates.
The Coalition for the Homeless is calling on New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to enhance inadequate rental assistance programs, and on New York Mayor Bill de Blasio allocate a larger number of public housing apartments to homeless families.
