Give Street Homeless Rent Assistance Faster, BK Councilman Says

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK — A pair of bills by a Brooklyn councilman could make it easier for people living on the street to get assistance faster.

So-called "street homeless" wouldn't have to wait more than 30 days to receive help from certain city program, under a bill introduced last week by Councilman Stephen Levin.

He also proposed giving street homeless quicker access to Department of Homeless Services help, another bill showed.

The issue is many homeless people want to avoid New York City's often-crowded shelter system and stay on the streets, Levin told the New York Post, which first reported on the bills. He told the Post his proposals would help them bypass the shelter system and get rental assistance vouchers faster.

Levin represents a wide swath of Brooklyn from Brooklyn Heights, Williamsburg, Greenpoint and a sliver of Bedford–Stuyvesant, among other neighborhoods.

Bed-Stuy in particular is an active hub in New York City's shelter system. It ranked eighth in city districts last year for the number of entries — about 20,000 — into homeless shelters, according to data released with a massive City Council-penned homelessness plan.

That's second most in Brooklyn behind East New York, the data shows.

Levin held hearings on his bills last week but they still remain in his committee, according to City Council records.