Most New Yorkers living on the street and subways have been through the city’s shelter system — and don’t want to go back, according to a new survey of 200 “unsheltered” city residents.
More than three-quarters of respondents from all five boroughs — 77 percent — said they had stayed in the shelter system before and opted to return to the street, according to the report released Monday by the Coalition for the Homeless.
Of those who eschewed shelters, 38 percent cited concerns about their safety while another 44 percent blamed city social workers for being either inefficient, overly-controlling, inattentive or disrespectful, the report said.
“No discipline, security don’t do nothing, food sucks, feel like I’m in prison, no love,” one survey respondent said of the city-run system.
“I’m a human being,” said another. “I don’t want to be treated like an ASPCA mutt.”
City social workers, meanwhile, had approached 84 percent of the individuals surveyed. Yet three-fifths of those approached refused the services offered by the workers — usually a trip back into the shelter system.
Fifty-three percent of respondents said they need real housing to get off the streets, while 26 percent also cited jobs and income
Survey respondents were approached while living anywhere from subways stations and sidewalks to parks and office building atriums.
Their answers suggest New York City’s street homeless “see the sacrifice of their safety, dignity, and agency as the unacceptable cost of entering the shelter system and so they are left with no choice but to bed down in public spaces,” the report argued.
New York’s street homeless tend to be older than shelter residents, the report said — and two-thirds of the people surveyed by the coalition said they had “serious health needs.” Just 6 percent said they had family or friends who could provide them shelter in case of inclement weather.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo instituted nightly subway shutdowns last May so cops could clear trains of homeless people amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mayor Bill de Blasio at the time touted “historic” success in offering service to individuals yanked from trains and platforms, but many were simply bused to dangerously crowded shelter facilities.
“People bedding down on the streets are not there by choice, they are there because they lack any meaningful choice,” said Lindsey Davis, the Coalition for the Homeless’ senior director of crisis services.
“Many of these individuals have significant physical health and mental health issues, and the systems currently in place simply fail to meet their needs.”