Basic Facts About Homelessness:  New York City Data and Charts

Coalition for the Homeless provides up-to-date information on New York City's homeless population. In recent years, homelessness in New York City has reached the highest levels since the Great Depression.  You can find more information about homelessness at the following pages:

• Basic Fact About Homelessness (main page)
• Basic Facts About Homelessness: New York City
• Basic Facts About Homelessness: United States

Basic Facts About Homelessness: New York City Data and Charts

This page provides up-to-date statistics and charts about homelessness in New York City.  Here you can find up-to-date data about New York City's homeless shelter population, download charts and historical statistics about homelessness in New York City, and find an explanation of data sources.

New York City's Homeless Shelter Population: A Snapshot (October 31, 2011)

• Total number of homeless people in municipal shelters: 41,204
• Number of homeless families: 10,048
• Number of homeless children: 16,934
• Number of homeless adults in families: 14,810
• Number of homeless single adults: 9,460
• Number of homeless single men: 6,940
• Number of homeless single women: 2,520

A Note on the Data

• Coalition for the Homeless relies on public data sources for statistics about the New York City homeless shelter population.  These data sources record the nightly (or average nightly) number of homeless people residing in municipal homeless shelters.
• For the most part, the Coalition reports on the number of homeless adults and children residing in the municipal shelter system, which is administered by the NYC Department of Homeless Services.  This does not include:  families and individuals residing in domestic violence shelters; runaway and homeless youth residing in youth shelters; homeless people living with AIDS residing in special emergency housing; homeless people residing in faith-based shelters; and homeless people sleeping overnight in drop-in centers.  However, the large majority of homeless New Yorkers reside in the municipal shelter system.
• The Coalition's data about New York City's homeless shelter population is more accurate and historically consistent than data currently made available to the public by the City of New York.  For instance, the homeless shelter population data found on the home page of the NYC Department of Homeless Services currently excludes around 2,000 homeless children and adults residing in municipal homeless shelters.  For more information on the limitations of the City's publicly-available homelessness data, please look here. 
• There is no reliable measurement of the unsheltered homeless population in New York City.  The City of New York, under a mandate from the Federal government, produces an annual estimate of the unsheltered homeless population based on a single winter night's survey.  The City's controversial estimate has been criticized by advocates and academic researchers as a signficant undercount of the actual number of unsheltered homeless New Yorkers.  For more information about the flaws in the City's estimate, please look here.

Charts and Data:  Downloads

The following documents are available for download:

• The New York City Homeless Shelter Population: Charts
• The New York City Homeless Shelter Population: Historical Data, 1983-Present
• New York City Homelessness: Fact Sheet