Effort To Get NYC Homeless Out Of Cold Has Little Impact On First Night

City workers placed 97 people living on city streets in shelters and hospitals, which is pretty standard.
A homeless man looking for money for a room sits on 5th Avenue near 42nd Street in New York January 4, 2016 as he trys to stay warm in the cold temperatures. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order on January 3 that will make it mandatory to bring the homeless in out of the cold. The order, which goes into effect on January 5, calls for the involuntary taking of the homeless to shelters when the weather drops to 32 degrees or colder.
A homeless man looking for money for a room sits on 5th Avenue near 42nd Street in New York January 4, 2016 as he trys to stay warm in the cold temperatures. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order on January 3 that will make it mandatory to bring the homeless in out of the cold. The order, which goes into effect on January 5, calls for the involuntary taking of the homeless to shelters when the weather drops to 32 degrees or colder.
TIMOTHY A. CLARY via Getty Images

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's order to move all homeless people off of the streets during frigid nights had scant impact in New York City on its first day on Tuesday other than fuel an ongoing political battle with Mayor Bill de Blasio, advocates said.

City workers placed 97 people living on city streets in shelters and hospitals overnight, as temperatures dropped below freezing, according to official figures. The number was not unusual, city officials said.

"We are already carrying out the requirements of the executive order," De Blasio spokeswoman Karen Hinton said. The order "merely requires all New York state localities follow many of the same requirements as New York City."

Cuomo's office did not respond to requests for comment.

The city already provides emergency shelter to homeless people during freezing nights as part of its long-running Code Blue program, Hinton said, adding that the facilities are required to stay open all day and night regardless of the temperature.

Homeless advocates agreed that the order, which applies to the whole state, appeared to change little for New York City.

"There was no wave of folks coming in from the cold. It was another night of services in New York City,” said Alexander Horwitz, a spokesman for Doe Fund, which operates three shelters for adult men in the city.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks during an economic development awards ceremony in Albany, N.Y. After the NYCLU filed its lawsuit in 2011, Cuomo saw it as an opportunity to improve New York's prison standards and instructed his staff to negotiate. New York prison officials agreed Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015, to overhaul their use of solitary confinement, offering a broad slate of reforms aimed at reducing the number of inmates sent to "the box," limiting the amount of time they can spend there and providing counseling to help long-term solitary inmates adjust to life on the outside.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks during an economic development awards ceremony in Albany, N.Y. After the NYCLU filed its lawsuit in 2011, Cuomo saw it as an opportunity to improve New York's prison standards and instructed his staff to negotiate. New York prison officials agreed Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015, to overhaul their use of solitary confinement, offering a broad slate of reforms aimed at reducing the number of inmates sent to "the box," limiting the amount of time they can spend there and providing counseling to help long-term solitary inmates adjust to life on the outside.
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Giselle Routhier, policy director for advocacy group Coalition for the Homeless, said Cuomo should direct funds to creating more affordable units to house the homeless, including those suffering from mental illness.

Forcing people off the streets temporarily would do little to help the city's rising homeless population, she said.

The city, which counts about 58,000 homeless people sleeping in shelters on any given night and between 3,000 to 4,000 people living on the streets, last month doubled the number of its homeless outreach workers. De Blasio also announced a commitment to create 15,000 new units of supportive housing for the homeless.

Cuomo's executive order, which was announced Sunday, was seen as undermining the actions by De Blasio. The pair have publicly sparred over a series of issues since De Blasio took office two years ago.

Advocates said they hope this round of quarreling, however, will be helpful to their cause.

"I am hopeful that the political maelstrom will bring attention to the conditions in the shelters," Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.

Lieberman said she also hoped the back-and-forth between New York's political leaders would draw attention to problems of housing affordability in the city.

(Additional reporting by Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

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