Posted on February 8, 2022 by Casey O'Hara Homeless families in New York City are required to undergo an onerous bureaucratic application process in order to receive a shelter placement, and the difficulties they face have only been exacerbated in recent years amid the ongoing pandemic. This flawed application process resulted in a record number of applications being rejected last year, with many families forced to reapply repeatedly before City workers ultimately deem them eligible: In 2021, the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) rejected three out of four shelter applications submitted by families with children. The shelter application process has always been burdensome for homeless families, but the challenges were exacerbated in 2016 when the State (at DHS’ request) revised an administrative directive, thereby establishing more restrictive eligibility rules that tend to result in families eligible for shelter placements being inappropriately found ineligible. DHS requires families with children to provide a two-year housing history and emergency contact information. However, as noted by Coalition for the Homeless Policy Director Jacquelyn Simone in a recent article in The City, “The documentation standards can be very challenging for people who maybe didn’t have a formal lease.” Producing the required documentation has become even more difficult for families during the pandemic. This process creates added stress for families who already experience the inherent trauma of homelessness. The shockingly low eligibility rate underscores an urgent need for fundamental reforms to make the application process and eligibility requirements more effective and less traumatic, particularly as the expiration of the eviction moratorium will soon cause more families to become homeless and require shelter. Suhail Bhat and Josefa Velazquez recently wrote about the low shelter eligibility rate in an article for The City, highlighting some key statistics: “From a pool averaging about 2,000 applications a month from families seeking shelter in 2021, just 24% were accepted, according to DHS figures. After years of hovering between 40% and 50%, the share of applications accepted began to decline during the pandemic, with 34% admitted in an average month during 2020, down from 40% two years ago.…In 523 of the hearings in 2021 — 38% of the cases — the court ruled DHS decisions ‘not correct’ and ordered the department to admit families to shelter. The rate of reversals in 2021 was nearly double the rate in previous years, dating back to 2012.…In November, 515 families were accepted for shelter out of 2,292 applicants. Of the ones found eligible, 62% had to apply more than once before the DHS found them eligible, while 31% had to submit more than three applications.” If you have wrongly been denied shelter, please call our Crisis Intervention Hotline at 1-888-358-2384 to speak with one of our case managers.
