In recent years, homelessness in New York City has reached the highest levels since the Great Depression. Read a brief description of some of the main factors causing modern homelessness here.

Nearly 100,000 migrants have arrived in New York City since the spring of 2022 as of early August.

Many have sought shelter with the city, which has a legal obligation to give beds to anyone who asks. Last fall, the city’s homeless shelter population hit a record. Read the full article.

Most minority groups, especially African Americans and Indigenous people, experience homelessness at higher rates than Whites, largely due to long-standing historical and structural racism. Read the full article here.

Without stable housing, managing mental illness becomes almost impossible. The constant violence that people are exposed to, the lack of sleep, the stress and uncertainty, the humiliation — all of these worsen people’s mental health and limit their access to treatment. Read the full article here.

Lincoln Center was the crown-jewel project of the Mayor’s Committee on Slum Clearance. The “urban renewal” plan, which leveled 18 city blocks on the Upper West Side, displaced more than 7,000 lower-class families and 800 businesses. Read the full article.

Rents in Manhattan and other parts of the city are at all-time high — again. Skyrocketing rents and scarce housing are causing more and more New Yorkers to experience housing insecurity. Read the full article.

It’s a New York dream to combine your place with the one next door to make a spacious home. But it comes at a price: over the last 70-plus years, mergers of flats and rooming houses into bigger residences have taken a steady toll on the city’s housing stock, a new study finds. Read the full article.

Shams DaBaron, known as “Da Homeless Hero”, understands New York’s housing emergency better than most – he has dealt with the many mental, spiritual, and physical crises that accompany a lifetime of housing insecurity. A fierce critic of former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s treatment of homeless New Yorkers, he’s now collaborating with the new Mayor. Read the full article here.

Visit the Department of Homeless Services website to view their daily shelter census report.

New York City spends more than $800 million annually to maintain the single adult shelter system. With a population projected to exceed 30,000 by 2029, this cost is expected to nearly double to $1.5 billion and become even more unsustainable. Permanent supportive and affordable housing are the answer.