The New York Times article Homelessness Rose in New York shared some staggering stats on the state of homelessness. Goddard Riverside – the lead point of accountability for outreach and housing placement in the borough, knows another side to those numbers.
Since 2007, our outreach teams have placed 2720 individuals off the street and into temporary housing. 1328 individuals have been placed into permanent housing, and of those housed, 94% have retained after one year.
Although we have seen much success in greatly reducing the chronic street homeless population in Manhattan, much more needs to be done throughout the city to address the growing crisis of homelessness that is a direct result of the city becoming unaffordable to so many New Yorkers. We must create better and fairer housing, education, and employment opportunities for low income individuals and families, otherwise we will continue to see a steady increase in homelessness and other social issues.