City Plans to Open Five New Homeless Shelters By End of Year

The city plans to open at least five new shelters by the end of this year to combat rising homeless numbers, bringing the total shelters opened since May to 15, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Officials said Tuesday that three family shelters with 169 apartment-style units and two shelters for single adults with another 234 beds will open in the next few months.

Two shelters will be in the Bronx, while one each will be located in Queens, Manhattan and Brooklyn, the Journal reported.

Recent numbers put the citywide shelter population at 46,036, with a 29 percent increase since spring 2011. The city has the highest shelter occupancy record in history, according to data released in August.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Homeless Services said the opening of shelters was based on demand, but could not comment to the paper on whether the number of shelters opening was significant.

At a Tuesday hearing, City Council members blasted the Bloomberg administration for failing to respond to the city’s homelessness crisis. 

Council Member Stephen Levin, D-Brooklyn, said that New York City’s homeless problem is getting worse, and that “unless there is a significant change in policy, those trends will continue to get worse.”

In fact, back in August, Bloomberg said that New York City’s shelters for homeless people were “a much more pleasurable experience than they ever had before,” which he said was the cause of high occupancy rates.