The mayor announced today that he will be adding 300 beds to the city's shelters for homeless and runaway youth by 2019, bringing the total number of such beds to 753. There are 20 such shelters in the city serving people ages 16-21, but they currently cannot accommodate the number of homeless youth in the city — de Blasio estimated that there are currently 66 people who would qualify for a youth shelter in adult DHS shelters, and an unknown number who are street homeless.
The city will also be adding staff at DHS shelters dedicated to informing youths that there are alternate options for them that offer services such as GED preparation and counseling.
This is the third initiative de Blasio has announced since Gilbert Taylor stepped down from the position of DHC commissioner in December and Steve Banks, de Blasio's Human Resources Administration Commissioner, was put in charge of a DHS overhaul.
"We will keep adding beds not only as quickly as possible, but as much as needed," de Blasio noted during remarks on Friday at Covenant House, a Hell's Kitchen shelter for homeless and runaway youth. "If we need more we will add more. If we need it more quickly we will produce it more quickly, because we don’t want any young person waiting.”
Forty percent of homeless youth are LGBTQ individuals, many of whom feel unsafe in DHS shelters and wind up engaging in "survival sex" to ensure a place to sleep. Referencing a study on Covenant House itself, State Senator Brad Hoylman noted that sex traffickers often wait outside at-capacity shelters to take advantage of teens who are sent away because there isn't room for them:
"It is unconscionable that oftentimes a kid will come to a shelter, knock on a door, and be turned away because there are no beds available," Hoylman said. "It’s even more unconscionable that there are johns oftentimes waiting outside to pick up those kids and traffic them for sex."
Funding for youth homelessness has been low for years, with Cuomo cutting funding for youth shelters by 50 percent in 2011. De Blasio pledged $4.7 million in city funding to add 100 beds for homeless youth in May, and these additional 300 beds will cost $14.7 million.
During his remarks on Friday, the mayor called on the state to provide assistance, expressing his hope that cuts to funding for youth shelters and preventative services for homelessness more generally will be restored.
"For two years the city of New York has made very clear to the state of New York what we needed," de Blasio said. "We have asked repeatedly for help...I am hopeful that cuts will be restored; that funding for programs that work, like anti-eviction legal services and rental subsidies, will be provided; that supportive housing, our initiative, will be matched. I’m very hopeful. Because it’s obvious it’s the right thing to do."
The mayor was particularly adamant in his desire that the governor restore funding for Advantage, a preventative program that subsidized up to $1,100 in rent for 15,000 households before Cuomo slashed its funding in 2011. However, de Blasio admitted that such programs might never solve the problem of youth homelessness, which, particularly in cases involving LGBTQ youth, often stems from an intolerant home life.
Though he did not call out his predecessor by name, de Blasio was unsparing in his criticism of the Bloomberg administration, saying that it ignored the needs of the poor and homeless. Department of Youth and Community Development Commissioner Bill Chong, who also worked under the previous administration, echoed this, saying there had been a "tremendous sea change" in homeless youth programs since Bloomberg left office. Under Bloomberg, funding for homeless youth was slashed by an additional $7 million.
"Why did this city tolerate this?" de Blasio demanded. "I think honestly, a mayor should be held accountable. I feel there is a blunt, very, very clear parallel to the reality on Rikers Island, the reality in our public housing developments, the reality in our schools…why was any of this tolerated? We’re not tolerating it.”
