CONTACT: Adolfo Abreu, adolfo@vocal-ny.org, 347-302-0051

EVERYONE WANTS TO END HOMELESSNESS, THE SOLUTIONS REQUIRE INVESTMENT INTO WHAT WORKS, NOT SENSATIONALIZED STORIES OR QUICK FIXES

Resolving decades of underinvestment and ineffective policies cannot be fixed overnight

NEW YORK — Today, in response to sensational media coverage on homeless encampments along the Westside Highway in New York City, VOCAL-NY released the following statement:

“Everyone wants a New York City without street homelessness. Just as everyone wants people to have the mental health care they need to stay healthy. 

This cycle of reporting on encampments fails to focus on the decades-long policy failures that produced this crisis. Instead, it punches down on people and places the blame on individuals who are being failed by every level of government. It’s the same playbook that shames and humiliates homeless New Yorkers while obscuring the fact that we all agree that no one should be living on the street. 

Ending chronic street homelessness in our City is possible, and New Yorkers are demanding real solutions every day. They know that policing is not an effective way to address homelessness and the mental health and substance use crises tangled up with it. What works is rapidly connecting New Yorkers to housing and health care – areas the Administration is making progress on. 

Here are some ways the City could strengthen its approach: 

• Move people from the street to safe havens and stabilization beds, and fill currently vacant supportive housing units, while increasing the number of low-barrier units and transitional beds as needed.
• Increase City’s mental health workforce. We applauded the City’s decision to not increase the NYPD’s headcount. Those resources ($70 million) could be utilized to increase capacity at other City agencies working to address these issues. 
• Appoint a Senior official at City Hall to spearhead a response to this issue by bringing relevant City agencies and non-profits together to implement effective solutions
• Invest in and build out the Department of Community Safety to maintain coordination across the relevant city agencies 

Let us be clear about the real motivation, and playbook of the politicians, news outlets, and Twitter trolls who are promoting an opposing agenda. Their goal is to undermine faith in government, eliminate or deter actual effective solutions, and arrest and jail people impacted by the deterioration of the social safety net to justify corporate takeover of the public sector.  

New Yorkers want to help their neighbors in need but are left unsure of how they can support. We believe that the vast majority of New Yorkers are compassionate and reasonable. They want to live in a City that solves these problems, not one that simply sweeps them out of view or wastes resources by moving them from one corner or neighborhood to the next. That’s why it’s vital for the Mayor and his administration to strengthen these approaches and clearly communicate to New Yorkers the progress made by supporting people with stable housing. 

###