Raymond Rosa and his three kids have been in the city’s shelter system a little over a year.
First they lived at a hotel in Queens, and now they’re in the Bronx, not too far from where Rosa grew up.
“It’s a hundred times better,” Rosa told NY1 this week while walking through the neighborhood. “I get to cook my own food, have my own space, have my own TV.”
They are in one of the city’s 51 new shelters — opened under a plan to overhaul the shelter system de Blasio announced in 2017. It’s a plan aimed at placing people experiencing homelessness in their own communities. Every community board was supposed to have at least one shelter.
Almost five years later, de Blasio’s homelessness czar is assessing the progress they made.
“We’ve shrunk the footprint of the Department of Homeless Services by 45%,” said Department of Social Services Commissioner Steven Banks. “We’ve sited 99 shelters, opened 50 already and well on our way over the course of the plan to achieving what we set. We said we’d get out of the cluster program, the Giuliani-era program. Achieved that. We said by the end of 2023, we’d be out of commercial hotels. By the end of this year, no families with children will be in commercial hotels."
In some communities, the number of shelter facilities has decreased dramatically. Take Community District 4 in the Bronx. In 2017, there were more than 50 facilities housing people experiencing homelessness. Now there are 15.
Still a pillar of the plan, 90 new shelters in five years, is somewhat incomplete.
Since 2017, sites have been selected for 99 new shelters, but so far 51 have opened. The green dots are where the de Blasio administration has opened a shelter. The red is where they have been sited.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeless Services tells NY1 that for the shelters that have yet to open, a provider has been selected and contracts are being worked on. But this will be left to an Adams administration to finish.
The question is, will he?
Banks is hopeful.
“Look, he’s got a track record of being supportive of making sure shelters get open when people need the help that they need, but he’s also got a vision for providing more permanent housing so you don't need as much shelter,” the commissioner told NY1. “But until we get to that point, with winter coming, it’s critical to make sure people have a roof over their heads."
Comments he’s made on the campaign trail indicate the mayor-elect is not interested in new shelters.
“We have to get out of the shelter business and get in the business of permanent housing,” Adams said during his final mayoral debate in October. “The congregate shelters are no good.”
A spokesperson for Adams, Evan Thies, would not comment on whether he will finish de Blasio’s plan. In a statement, he said: “The mayor-elect will have a comprehensive plan to address the homelessness crisis when he takes office.”
For Rosa, at least, this shelter has served its purpose.
He has found an apartment. And is expected to move out soon.