Number of New Yorkers in Shelters Quietly Grew by 11.5% in 2024, as Mayor Adams and Governor Hochul Continue Failing to Focus on Proven Solutions New York, NY – Today, the Coalition for the Homeless published its annual State of the Homeless report: Nowhere to Go. This year, against a backdrop of volatile federal politics and sensational headlines defining the homelessness crisis in stark, often sensationalistic, terms, the report lays bare a deepening homelessness crisis in New York City marked by the increasing number of longer-term New Yorkers in shelters, failed policy responses, and the continued criminalization of poverty and mental illness. “In 2024, more people were pushed into homelessness, more had to enter shelters, and more ended up on the streets – all while thousands of vacant supportive housing units and thousands of rental vouchers went unused,” said David Giffen, Executive Director of Coalition for the Homeless. “While Mayor Adams and Governor Hochul scapegoated asylum seekers and deployed law enforcement to sweep unhoused New Yorkers temporarily out of sight, the crisis in our city only worsened. Tens of thousands of people simply have nowhere to go. The only answer is to invest in permanent housing to finally reduce the need for emergency shelters and to build on the solutions proven to work.” Key findings from Nowhere to Go include: The number of longer-term New Yorkers in shelters rose by 11.5 percent in just one year, from 65,640 in December 2023 to 73,219 in December 2024, even as the number of asylum seekers in shelters declined. In a city with more than 820,000 extremely low-income (ELI) households, only 2,063 newly constructed units of housing affordable to ELI households were completed in 2024. The vacancy rate for the lowest-rent apartments remains an untenable 0.39 percent – there are essentially no available low-rent apartments in NYC. While the Department of Social Services highlighted a 24 percent increase in subsidized exits from DHS shelters (totaling 18,629 households), this was far outpaced by new shelter entrants, confirming that the City continues to fail to address the housing needs of low-income New Yorkers. Only 3 percent (114 individuals) of those forcibly removed from streets and subways in the first nine months of 2024 were placed into permanent housing, despite the availability of roughly 4,000 vacant supportive housing units. Mayor Adams and Governor Hochul failed to replicate the successful approach used to end chronic homelessness among veterans – a tragically missed opportunity that could have addressed the housing and mental care needs of approximately 2,000 unsheltered individuals with serious mental illness. Despite Mayor Adams’ celebration of surface-level gains in the fight against homelessness, such as increased shelter exits and police-led outreach, the Mayor has ignored the reality that the number of homeless New Yorkers is growing due to a lack of deeply affordable, accessible housing for those who need it most. The report holds Mayor Adams and Governor Hochul accountable for expanding the use of involuntary hospitalization of homeless individuals in the subway system without providing the long-term mental health care services and housing necessary for lasting stability. These hospitalizations often result in people being discharged back to the streets without a plan for follow-up care or housing, creating a revolving door that allows politicians to appear proactive while failing to deliver meaningful solutions. As the City and State head into a transformative election cycle amid mounting threats to federal funding for City and State programs, Nowhere to Go provides a roadmap to address our housing and homelessness crisis effectively and realistically. The Coalition calls on current and future leaders to reject the criminalization of homelessness and the scapegoating of new arrivals. Instead, the Coalition calls for the City and State to adopt solutions that address the root causes of homelessness, beginning with robust investments in affordable housing and the services that allow people to remain stable and housed. Read the full report here.
