NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Mayor Eric Adams announced Sunday that the 2023 budget he is currently negotiating with City Council will include $171 million in funding for homeless services and resources.
The funds will be earmarked to expand the number of safe haven beds, improve services at facilities, build three new drop-in centers and hire more outreach staff.
The Council had called for $114 million to fund such an expansion, which Adams exceeded by over $55 million.
“Too many of our fellow New Yorkers are experiencing unsheltered homelessness — but we cannot and will not abandon them,” said Adams. “We are making the largest investment in street outreach and low-barrier beds that a city administration ever has, in an effort to almost double the number of Safe Haven and stabilization beds available to New Yorkers.”
Adams proposed a 3% cut to all city agencies except the NYPD, including the Department of Homeless Services which would lose $63 million from its $2.1 billion 2022 budget. 1010 WINS reached out to the mayor’s office for clarification on whether the funding announced Sunday is designed to offset the cut or if Adams has reversed course and plans to increase the budget instead of slashing it.
In his announcement, the mayor promised the money will fund 1,400 new safe haven beds — bringing the total number to 4,000 by mid-2023.
He said $19 million will go toward building three new drop-in centers and enhancing medical and mental health services at existing centers. Drop-in centers aren’t shelters, but they provide access to showers, food and social services.
Adams also said $12 million will go toward the Department of Social Services’ homeless outreach program.
Permanent, community-controlled housing for homeless New Yorkers is absent from the budget. Housing advocates and homeless people have been calling for a direct housing solution as opposed to Adams’ program of sweeping homeless encampments paired with shelter services.
One homeless man who has been targeted for repeated sweeps after continuously rebuilding his encampment as an act of civil disobedience told 1010 WINS that he prefers living on the streets to the shelter system.
“Homeless shelters and safe havens are abusive environments,” Johnny Grima told 1010 WINS. “The staff belittle people. They can curse people out. They can threaten people, and they cover for each other. When a homeless person tries to report shelter abuse they are silenced. Staff hold all the power.”
Jose Hernandez, a 71-year-old who also lives in the encampment said he decided to leave the shelter system after he was robbed twice.
These men do not see safe haven expansions as helpful to them. At the beginning of April, the Adams administration said it had carried out 328 sweeps, but only five people had accepted services like transportation to safe havens while their encampments were being destroyed.
City Council seems to be satisfied by Adams’ plan to address homelessness though, and it's the Council's approval Adams' needs to pass his budget.
City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said tactics like safe havens, drop-in centers and health care services should be “the consistent focus of the City’s efforts directed to our unsheltered neighbors.”
The speaker wasn’t alone in her praise for the funding.
“The Council knows what works to address homelessness and has been laser focused in working to expand specific homeless services as key solutions to housing insecurity,” said Diana Ayala, the City Council’s deputy speaker and chair of the general welfare committee. “I'm thrilled that through the collaborative efforts of this Council and Administration, a historic $171 million investment will provide quality services and resources to so many New Yorkers in need.”
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