Unsheltered Homeless Youth Population Doubled, Annual City Report Finds

 

A count conducted last January found the number of youth sleeping in drop-in centers, places of worship, subways, fast food joints and other crash spots spiked as migrant arrivals grew. 

This article originally apeared in The City.

By Gwynne Hogan, and Katie Honan

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NEW YORK - An annual count of homeless youths conducted last January found the highest number of unsheltered young people in at least a decade, more than double the number last year. 

The report resulting from the survey conducted by the city’s Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD), and released this week, counted 418 young people between the ages of 14 and 24 sleeping in houses of worship, overnight drop in centers, the subways, fast food restaurants and other tenuous situations during a four-day period in January. 

That’s up from 147 last year, nearly double the number of homeless youth the count found last year. 

Of those, 73 young people were found to be staying overnight in drop-in centers that don’t have beds, instead allowing youth to spend the night and ‘rest’ but not ‘sleep,’ according to a directive issued by Mayor Eric Adams’ administration in January 2023. 

The report also revealed a dramatic spike in the number of minors between the age of 14 and 18 found living unsheltered: 56 youths, up from nine the year earlier. 

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Jamie Powlovich, who works with homeless youth at the Coalition for the Homeless, called the data devastating.

“Under the de Blasio administration, things weren't perfect, but significant steps were taken to meet the needs of young people experiencing homelessness in the city,” she said, adding that funding for programs that serve homeless youth has remained flat despite the huge surge in homelessness. 

“Unfortunately under the current administration, all we're seeing is report after report that has historically high data,” Powlovich added.

Sebastien Vante, the associate vice president at Safe Horizon, which runs Streetwork Project, a drop-in center for homeless youth, said the data indicates one major need. 

“More beds — we need more beds,” Vante said. “We need more beds, and we need more money. Programs like ours need more funding so that we can continue to meet the growing needs of this growing population of youth who are experiencing homelessness.”

Mark Zustovich, a spokesperson for DYCD, defended the city’s work with homeless and at-risk youth. 

“DYCD and our providers continue to step up for runaway and homeless youth, offering immediate and longer-term services to anyone who needs them,” he said in a statement. “DYCD providers connect all young people to available resources or refer them to other programs, so they get the critical services they deserve.”

The city is not considering adding more youth shelter beds, Zustovich told THE CITY, as he reported that 777 of 813 youth shelter beds were occupied as of Tuesday morning.

Alarm Bells

Advocates have been ringing alarms for more than a year about a youth surging homelessness crisis that has accompanied the surge of migrants and asylum seekers traveling from the southern to New York City, which tested the city’s historic right-to-shelter protections.

A biannual report released in September by DYCD found an unprecedented number of young people denied youth shelter beds between January and July. 

City-sponsored shelters turned away more than a thousand youth during that time period, up from 234 young adults who requested shelter and were not placed during the six months prior. In the first six months of 2023, only nine young adults were denied beds.

In January, when DYCD conducted the count of homeless youth, migrants seeking a shelter stay had to wait days and even weeks for another shelter cot after a 30-day limit expired, and often turned to the streets, subways and mosques while they waited. 

In the months since, the number of migrants living in city shelters has declined, as more have left shelters and fewer new arrivals to New York since the Biden administration tightened restrictions on border crossings.

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