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DEBATE: City Council Member Bill de Blasio speaks out against the Department of Homeless Services' new Request for Proposal. De Blasio is the 39th district council member and is on the chair of the Council's General Welfare Committee. (Joshua Philipp/The Epoch Times)
NEW YORK—Homeless shelters in New York may soon see changes that would decrease their service by close to 16 percent if new proposals from the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) are passed.
Homeless advocates and volunteer service providers joined City Council Members Bill de Blasio and Gale Brewer to discuss the proposals with DHS representatives. The meeting was held at 250 Broadway near City Hall on Wednesday.
The conference room was so packed that some had to sit on the floor of the hallway. Others, still in the lobby downstairs, were denied entry due to the lack of space. Robert Hess, commissioner of DHS, discussed with the council members and community members the new proposal, which would reduce the number of beds by 232 citywide, leading to a 16.8 percent decrease. The RFP also places faith-based homeless shelters at risk of closing due to the higher standards required by the plan.
De Blasio argued that the state-run services aren’t able to compare to those offered by churches and other faith-based services.
“In some instances congregations have actually helped some of the people they serve to get a job and to get situated. I think that crystallizes the quality, the level of compassion, the level of humanity that sort of personal intervention that goes on here,” de Blasio said.
“And how much it is a neighborhood taking responsibility for people in need in their own midst and the congregation taking responsibility. Again, I think that is precious. I think it’s a higher level of effectiveness than any bureaucracy could ever reach,” he said.
“We can’t replicate that with any traditional government approach and again, I think that’s why this needs to be preserved.”
Currently, homeless shelters offer 150 stabilization beds, 298 safe haven beds, 285 faith based beds, and 644 chairs in drop-in centers— a grand total of 1,377. Under the new plan, there would be a total of 1,175 spots available. Hess, from DHS, argued that the new plan would offer more beds, as the old statistics include the 644 chairs in the drop-in centers.
“At the end of the day, our intent is to see that anyone in the drop-in center who wants a bed gets a bed and that no-one goes from the drop-in center to the street,” Hess said.
De Blasio responded to Hess’ statements by saying that the real problem with the new proposal is that it will make many faith-based services unable to help as they can’t meet the new standards.
“This whole hearing you are not denying that congregations are no longer going to be able to do this work because of the changes you’ve made,” he said.
“Go ahead and fix the procedural problems. Go ahead and get more people in beds where you can. That’s good. But that does not replace the capacity that is available in our neighborhoods,” de Blasio said. “It’s just that what these congregations are doing is different from what you’re doing and it’s not in any way something that you could replicate.”
There are close to 56 faith-based respite bed centers across the city. According to de Blasio’s office, all of these will be impacted by the new DHS plan. The new plan requires shelters to be open a minimum of five days a week and with 10 beds a night year round. The “safe haven” beds will also only be open to the “chronically homeless” who have been homeless for the last 9 out of 24 months.
Hess clarified that the DHS is trying to work more with the churches. “We’re increasing the number of available beds through our faith-based community from 285 to 495, average, with flexibility throughout the year. If we find that at some point in the year that that’s not enough then we’ll figure out how to add to it,” he said.
De Blasio pointed the close to 60 people who filled the room. “There’s a reason all these people are here. They are fearful that the work they are doing is going to be ended. It’s great if you say, ‘we’re going to add more of the faith-based beds,’ that’s fantastic. But at the same time taking away the work that these people are doing, I don’t understand why you wouldn’t want to do both.”
Hess responded, mentioning that the reason the church services were closed was because they couldn’t meet the standard. “As we go back and look at what’s already happened, we’re talking about 20 churches that were not meeting the standards that currently exist in the existing contract,” he said. “We opened four additional ones that were closer to existing drop-ins so that we could better meet the needs of the clients.”
Hess said that the DHS wants to find a way that that would be good for both the homeless and the churches. De Blasio answered, “Then you should pull back from your current strategy, get with all these people and work on a plan that’s going to work on the ground.”
You’re not hearing the point people are raising,” he said. “If I were in your shoes I’d admit something is going wrong here, freeze this plan, and in place get with the folks in this room and find out a way to make it work.”
The meeting was later opened up for the public to speak on the issue. Herbert Miller of the Park Slope United Methodist Church said in a public statement that he hopes the city will listen more to the faith-community in its plan.
"In a time when there is a real possibility of a rise in homelessness, the city should be bolstering up the safety net, not decreasing it,” said Miller. “The faith based emergency shelter network is an effective means of providing safe housing at reduced cost, thanks to volunteer staffing and religious congregations absorbing most of the cost of maintaining the physical space.”
We hope the city will make a real effort to be in dialogue with faith communities about how they can continue to work together,” he said. “The shelter network was put into place in a prior time of financial crisis as an effective step in addressing homelessness; we believe it still is effective.”
