— houston — nearly a decade ago, two u. s. Cities with large homeless populations tried to solve their problem by adopting a strategy that prioritized giving people housing and help over temporary shelter. But houston and san diego took fundamentally different approaches to implementing that strategy, known as housing first. — how does new york compare? And unlike in other jurisdictions, residents have a legal right to shelter. — as of september 2023, new york city’s homeless population officially topped 87,000. Because these figures only include the portion of asylum seekers in department of homeless services (dhs) and housing preservation and development (hpd), the recent increases in the chart are understated. New york city was facing record homelessness prior to the coronavirus pandemic, and the virus has only further magnified the holes in the social safety net with its disproportionate impact on homeless new yorkers. — a homeless bill of rights is now in effect in the city. The new law explicitly acknowledges the right to sleep outdoors, with some limitations, and the right to apply for rental aid. — the debate over how to tackle homelessness in new york city, where over 2,000 people live on the streets and the subway, comes as cities across the country grapple with growing encampments. Craigslist and the city s homeless a window into the struggles and resilience of new york s most vulnerable. This platform, a site for classified ads, has fundamentally transformed the way people connect with their local communities.
