The number of homeless New Yorkers camped out in the city’s streets and subways has increased this year by about 18%, despite Mayor Eric Adams’ intense attempts to prohibit them from doing so, a new annual census shows.
On January 24, 4,042 persons were estimated to be unshelteredly homeless by the Homeless Outreach Population Estimate (HOPE Survey), up from 2,376 in 2021 and 3,439 in the previous census. The increase was attributed to the mild weather and the cessation of COVID-related interventions, such as the use of federally funded private rooms in for-profit hotels, which resulted in a significantly lower count earlier in the pandemic, according to the city’s Department of Social Services, which is in charge of the Department of Homeless Services.
The spike happened a year after Mayor Eric Adams made it a primary goal to get homeless people in New York off the streets and subways through a combination of rigorous enforcement, police-led encampment sweeps, and outreach initiatives.
Only three of the 2,308 homeless persons who were forcefully removed from encampments between March and November of 2022 found permanent shelter, according to a report released last week by City Comptroller Brad Lander.
A visible portion of the city’s homeless population, which also includes an estimated 100,000 individuals staying in municipal shelters and a vast number of citizens who endure insecure housing and occasional homelessness, are New Yorkers who sleep on the streets and on train platforms.
Every year, volunteers help professional staff and outreach workers identify homeless people living on the streets of New York City on a single winter night as part of the HOPE count, which is required by federal law. The findings are used as a rough indicator of the city’s fluctuating number of street homeless people and are taken into consideration for allocating federal assistance.
