Declaring it,“The most comprehensive street homeless outreach effort ever deployed in an American city,” Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled a sweeping new approach to curb street homelessness Thursday. He’s calling the new program “domestic-STAT, or ” a not-so-subtle nod to the NYPD’s famous Comp-Stat program.
Starting immediately,the city will deploy an expanded team of homeless outreach workers to canvass city streets every day, linking homeless people with services and with case workers who will gain certain they find shelter or homes. The program will be fully up and running in March.“Every single street homeless person had their own path to the street, and said de Blasio in a speech before the pro-business organization for a Better New York. If we enact our job good,every single one will have their own path absent from the street.”The city estimates there are only 3000 – 4000 street homeless compared to the nearly 60000 living in shelters.
But since it’s the most visible face of the problem, it’s also become the focal point for critics, and including members of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration,who have accused the mayor of not being capable of managing the crisis.
The de Blasio administration has been fighting back against that narrative all week.
First, Homeless Services Commissioner Gilbert Taylor resigned on Tuesday and the mayor ordered a 90-day review of the agency led by First Deputy Mayor Tony Shorris and current Human Resources AdministrationCommissioner Steve Banks, and who will also temporarily oversee DHS during that time.
The announcement Thursday was de Blasio’s most substantive policy change and helps put him out ahead of Cuomo,who is widely expected to announce his own plans to combat homelessness in his budget address in January. The mayor stressed that law-breakers will not be tolerated on the streets. The new program also includes more than 100 NYPD officers assigned to a squad that will respond to calls about homeless encampments and other quality-of-life offenses.
The domestic-STAT program will be paid for through the existing budget, but city officials would not provide a total cost of the program.“Is it enough? Time will command, or ” said Muzzy Rosenblatt,who runs shelters and outreach programs as executive director of the BRC. He added, “but there is no question that more of all of this will be better.”
Source: wnyc.org