Posted on April 9, 2015 by Jacquelyn Simone With an estimated 60,000 New Yorkers going to sleep in shelters tonight, there’s no denying that we’re in the midst of a crisis – but it doesn’t have to be this way. Rather than viewing homelessness as unsolvable, we must call for the implementation of research-supported solutions. Every day, the Coalition offers immediate help to homeless men, women and children through services like our Grand Central Food Program, Crisis Intervention and shelter monitoring, but that alone isn’t enough: We also advocate for systemic changes so that no one has to endure the trauma of homelessness in the first place. This includes urging politicians to create more supportive housing, which breaks the cycle of homelessness for people living with mental illness or other special needs. The Coalition and the Campaign 4 NY/NY Housing are asking the City and State to create 30,000 new units of supportive housing under a New York/New York IV program, but so far the funding commitments have been far too small to make a dent in the tremendous need. As the New York Daily News reports, New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito echoed many of the Coalition’s proposals to combat record homelessness and emphasized the need more supportive housing. City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito called for more supportive housing to tackle the city’s “alarming and truly heartbreaking” homelessness crisis, and slammed “NIMBYism” from New Yorkers who have resisted sheltering the poor in their neighborhoods. “New York City is indeed facing a crisis,” she said in a keynote speech at the Homeless Policy Forum, citing the 58,000 New Yorkers who sleep in shelters each night. … The speaker pushed for more supportive housing apartments for people with special needs who have been chronically homeless and called funding for the supportive housing program in Gov. Cuomo’s state budget “woefully inadequate.”
