An estimated 4,140 is the sum of people living on the streets and subways in New York, according to the latest annual registry by the HOPE organization.
This figure represents 100 more people than last year, becoming the highest number in more than a decade.
According to some homeless people who sleep in the veterans’ triangle, in a small park in Ridgewood, finding a job and a place to live has been extremely difficult.
“To be honest, I think they haven’t given us jobs because of our appearance, because they don’t see us dirty, we smell bad,” said Javier Hernández.
Javier said that he has been living on the streets for two months after losing his job of 13 years in a beer factory. He says he has tried to find shelter, without success.
“I suffer from depression and when I lost my job I started drinking. And because of drinking I lost at work.”
Mike Lopez, CEO of Ridgewood Abbey Pantry, told us they are operating at full capacity.
“We have seen many times that people feel safer on the street than in a shelter. “We know that the shelter system here in the city has a lot of problems especially when it comes to safety and violence,” Lopez said.
HOPE, the acronym for Homeless Population Estimate, is an annual count required by the federal government.
The count was conducted on January 23, when ‘right to shelter’ protections collapsed for adult immigrants, leaving many on the streets and subways after days of waiting for a bed.
Social Services Commissioner Molly Park highlighted the city’s efforts to help those living on the streets.
Park highlighted that in the last two years the Adams administration has placed 2,000 people in permanent housing.
However, activists in defense of the homeless say that the number of people living on the streets is higher.
“Because they do it in winter and what happens is that many times all the homeless people who are on the streets at night are hiding inside places where it is difficult to find them,” said Marika Dias, of Safety Net Project Urban Justice.
And they criticize the lack of support from the municipal and state governments to build more affordable housing.
“To end this problem we have to ensure that all people have affordable housing,” Dias added.
For her part, the commissioner of social services reported that in the city more than 95% of homeless New Yorkers are in shelters. But even so, she highlights that there is still a lot of work to be done.
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