A record number of people slept in New York's homeless shelters last year, according to a new report from the advocacy group Coalition for the Homeless.
From CBS News:
The group, which released its annual State of the Homeless report Monday, said a record 113,553 people -- including 42,888 children -- slept in shelters run by New York City in fiscal year 2010. That's an 8 percent increase over the previous year.
According to the report the number of people cramming into the city's homeless shelters has risen 37 percent since 2002- the year the city got a new mayor.
And the coalition is blaming Bloomberg. From a statement on their website:
In the midst of this historic homelessness crisis, the Bloomberg administration's only response has been to defend its failed policies. Unlike previous New York City mayors from Ed Koch through Rudy Giuliani, Mayor Bloomberg refuses to use proven and cost-effective Federal housing programs to move homeless families from shelters to stable homes. Instead, for more than six years the Bloomberg administration has replaced proven Federal programs with a series of untested, time-limited subsidies like the recently-terminated Advantage program.
Patrick Markee, a senior policy analyst for the coalition, told 1010 WINS, "More than six years ago, Mayor Bloomberg cut off homeless families in New York City from access to successful federal housing programs, which had been used by every previous mayor from Ed Koch through Rudy Giuliani."
But Seth Diamond, Commissioner of the Department of Homeless Services, says its unlikely the federal government will grant the city any more federal subsidies to house the homeless, reports CBSNews.
The DOHS keeps a daily tally of how many homeless are staying in shelters on their website. On April 8th, there were over 37,000 people staying in homeless shelters in New York City.