Earlier this month, 11 days before thousands of volunteers would fan out across New York City to count people sleeping on the city’s streets, subways, parks and other public places, a senior de Blasio administration official sent out a time-sensitive request.
Marian Moorer, associate commissioner at the Department of Social Services, asked non-profit agencies if they could find more rooms where homeless people could be placed ahead of the January 27th event.
The Homeless Outreach Population Estimate, or the HOPE count, as it is known, is a federal requirement that has been conducted annually in New York since 2005. Changes in the tally are taken as a measure of how successfully the city is helping some of the most vulnerable populations—the homeless who reject traditional shelters and often struggle with mental health issues and substance use.
The tally varies from year to year based on weather and other factors. Last year, there were 3,588 homeless New Yorkers on the street, an increase of nearly 7 percent compared to 2014, when Mayor Bill de Blasio came into office. In the past year in particular, the media has placed increased focus on street homelessness and officials have taken action to move more people into shelters.
“In advance of HOPE we would like for your teams to bring on additional stabilization capacity,” Moorer wrote in a January 16th email obtained by WNYC/Gothamist. The associate commissioner requested that providers respond within four hours with the number of beds they would be able to add, at which locations, and how much they would cost the city.
“Sorry for the quick turn around on this,” Moorer added in the message.
The note also explained that the city was “working diligently” to secure funding for the extra rooms.
Stabilization beds are private rented rooms, typically in single room occupancy (SROs) buildings, where there are no onsite social services, security, and rules that traditional shelters have, such as curfews. Some homeless people regard them as more attractive options than dormitory-style city shelters for single adults.
“They do this mad rush for beds at the last minute to skew the count,” said one outreach provider, who didn’t have authorization to speak publicly. “It's a way to game the count.”
Another provider said the request was a common practice used ahead of HOPE counts, including during the Bloomberg administration. He said there was nothing wrong with trying to make sure everyone who can be housed finds a bed.
A spokesperson for the Department of Social Services, Isaac McGinn, said the email was not an attempt to misrepresent the number of people living on the street.
“Every winter we work with providers, including outreach providers and shelter providers, to bring on additional capacity and swing space to accommodate the seasonal trends we see every winter,” McGinn said in a statement.
As a result of the city’s request, at least a few dozen people were placed in the extra stabilization beds, according to tallies from two agencies. But it is unclear how many people total were taken off the streets because the email went to six providers contracted to bring homeless New Yorkers into shelters from across the five boroughs and the subways.
The results from this year’s HOPE count aren’t expected until sometime this spring.
Mirela Iverac is a reporter for WNYC, where she covers poverty and homelessness. You can follow her on Twitter at @mirelaiverac.
