New York City is spending millions on services for homeless people living on the street. But more New Yorkers are sleeping outside than ever before.
Calls to 311 related to homelessness tripled between 2019 and 2024 and spending for street homelessness tripled in roughly the same time period, the state comptroller found. Nearly 5,000 people slept on the streets or subways this year.
Homeless advocates, business groups and elected leaders say the problem is that the Mamdani administration needs to streamline what’s become an inefficient and largely uncoordinated street outreach system — and one that lacks clear accountability.
“What is happening right now is cruel and ineffective. It wastes money and doesn't fix the problem,” said Jeremy Saunders, co-executive director of VOCAL-NY, a grassroots organization advocating for low-income communities.
“We need a City Hall approach where we say, ‘This is a priority. There's political will to address it. We are going to improve the systems we have,’” Saunders said.
Many administrations have tried to tackle homelessness with varying degrees of success. Former Mayor Bill de Blasio effectively ended chronic homelessness for veterans. Homeless advocates hope the Mamdani administration can do the same for other New Yorkers.
Gothamist spoke to more than a dozen stakeholders who said the city’s outreach approach to street homelessness isn’t working and leaves too many New Yorkers living outside in harsh and dangerous conditions. They said that’s happening for various reasons: The dozens of outreach groups hired by various agencies and organizations often overlap and can overwhelm the very people they’re trying to help, there’s no one person in charge across city and state agencies, and a lack of enough housing or temporary beds that people want to accept.
“The people who do this work are doing God's work, but they're operating in an ineffective, inefficient system,” said Tom Harris, president of the Times Square Alliance, a business improvement district. He said at least nine different groups provide outreach in Midtown alone.
