This week word came down that Mayor Michael Bloomberg intends to add to the city’s roster of homeless shelters within New York. The move comes as a result of a substantial increase in the homeles across the city. Two shelters will open in the Bronx , with Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn each getting one.
Although it’s tough to get the agency types involved to really give a statistically definitive answer, our best guess, based on several reports, is that the current shelter population in New York is around 46,000 people, of them nearly 20,000 are children. If you think that sounds like a lot, you’re right. In fact it represents growth of about 30% since the spring of 2011.
The further problem with those numbers is that they represent a much lower figure than the actual size of the homeless population, because so many incidences of homeless remain unreported.
The facts about the homeless are scary at their best. In addition to battling the forces of weather and the law, they must also deal with the consequence of being on the street, as vulnerable a target as any. In 2010, the New York Times reported that the killing of homeless people had risen to the highest numbers over the last decade.
At the human level, being homeless realistically represents the failings of our society at the most fundamental level. Long gone are the days we remember as children, passing through neighborhoods in lower Manhattan, when we were exposed to our first real vision of tragic human condition. People picking through garbage cans to eat, lying across subway grates hoping for a blast of warm air, walking the streets with clothing soiled from urine and feces. You know, you remember when you first saw those things. How it took your breath away just thinking for a second what it might be like.
Isn’t it sad, that it no longer shocks us to see this? What’s truly amazing is it happened within a vividly recallable time period. Imagine that we can now walk past mounds of plastic and paper, strapped to shopping carts and consider it a normal part of the neighborhood landscape.
What will it be like when our children walk the streets? It’s a dangerous immunity that we’re building, one that is unfortunately fed by human natures tendency toward generosity with those we see in such desperate need.
If you see that this problem happening in your neighborhood, we ask you to consider that although we are all tempted by our hearts to offer food, extra clothing and even money, the consequences of those actions are damaging to the individual and to the community at large. We think this situation is best handled by those whose job it is to provide food, shelter, clothing and all else every homeless person in the city is entitled to. Teams of homeless services professionals are dispatched throughout the city to monitor the homeless population. We encourage our readers wishing to help to do so by reporting instances of homelessness to these trained professionals.
This is a problem that we have to face as a unified front—a classic example of tough love.
This week we would like to commend the Lindenwood Alliance in Howard Beach for their initiative in dealing with an increasing homeless population along Cross Bay Blvd. The group organized a concerted effort to find the best possible solution for their community. They have enlisted the help of Councilman Ulrich, the NYPD and various affiliates of the Dept. of Homeless Services.
This group has found a compassionate, sensible approach to dealing with a problem that poses a threat to the homeless and can contribute to the decline of quality of life in the community. We applaud their efforts to find help before inclement weather complicates an already difficult situation. We would hope that any community facing similar circumstances should consider this beacon effort as a viable pursuit.
