NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — New York City Councilmembers Robert Holden and Lincoln Restler proposed a bill on Tuesday to increase privacy in city homeless shelters.
The legislation would require the Department of Homeless Services to create individual sleeping areas for residents in place of the current dormitory style that often creates conflict and leaves residents feeling exposed.
"Homeless New Yorkers deserve access to New York City shelters that provide safety, privacy and stability to get on a pathway to a permanent home,” said Restler. “Creating privacy via partition walls between beds will help the Department of Homeless Services achieve this worthwhile goal."
The council members said the dividers would be eight feet tall and made from material comparable to that used for office cubicles. They would feature an obscurable window so people could view inside empty cubicles to see whether it's occupied.
Holden told 1010 WINS the bill is based on a pilot program at the Borden Avenue Veterans Residence shelter in Queens.
The pilot found when people were housed in dormitory style sleeping areas the potential for violence greatly increased, but by sectioning off sleeping areas with temporary barriers, violence abated.
Violence and a lack of privacy are two persistent complaints about New York City homeless shelters from those who use them.
“If you give them their rooms, if you give them semi-private rooms, I think it will make everything safer in the shelters,” Holden told 1010 WINS. “I think people would rather than be on the streets or in a subway car they might go readily to these shelters.”
Holden said he spoke with Mayor Eric Adams about the bill, and that the mayor seemed receptive to the idea — especially given the relatively low price tag on the materials used in constructing the cubicles.
The bill is narrow in scope, and only includes the privacy regulations, though both council members said they want to increase services for homeless New Yorkers and housing in future legislation.
Restler emphasized that while the program would help maintain privacy for homeless New Yorkers, a real, long-term solution to homelessness will be predicated on housing.
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