Posted on September 21, 2016 by Max Rivlin-Nadler in The Village Voice The Village Voice, By Max Rivlin-Nadler New York City’s homeless shelter population broke its all-time record this past weekend, and has continued to rise this week, as 59,734 people spent Monday night in a shelter. That figure includes 23,576 children, as over 140 new families checked into shelters on Monday. On Saturday, the shelter population surged past the previous high of 59,068, which was recorded back in December 2014. “The number of families in the system do tend to spike in the summer, especially August and September, as families who are struggling with housing tend to hang onto it until the end of their children’s school years,” said Giselle Routhier, policy director at the Coalition for the Homeless, in an interview with the Voice. “We’re living through an affordability crisis right now. At the moment, the vacancy rate for the cheapest apartment in the city is literally zero.”
