Annual count finds 40 percent increase in street homeless
An annual count of the city’s unsheltered population showed a 40 percent increase in homeless people on city streets, despite the efforts of the de Blasio administration to curb the rising rate of homelessness.
There were 3,892 people homeless and unsheltered in 2017, according to the estimate conducted in February, up from 2,794 last winter. It was the largest number since 2005, when the city first began estimating the unsheltered population.
Mayor Bill de Blasio has grappled with a homelessness crisis throughout his mayoralty, calling it the “number one frustration” of his tenure, while promising new resources and facilities to house the homeless, after the city struggled to keep pace early in his administration. Read more
