Advocates Blame Bloomberg for Spike in Homelessness

By JANURIE ULETT

Advocates for the homeless on Tuesday blamed the Bloomberg Administration”s housing policies for a  steep 73 percent increase in homeless families in New York City.

Statiistics provided by the Coalition for the Homeless indicated that families living in shelter nearly doubled to 50,000, the highest in history, since Bloomberg took office in 2002.

“We’ve entered a new era in New York City,” said Coalition analyst Partick Markee. “For the first time, we have no permanent housing program so homeless families can’t leave the shelter system.

Markee attributed the historic rise to the elimination in 2005 of federal housing assistance for the homeless, including public housing and rental vouchers. The city replaced these with what the advocates say was a less efficient temporary rent subsidy program. As rents rose by 25 percent and the unemployment rate remained high, the Coalition charged, . many families were pushed below the poverty line and into homelessness.

The advocates took note of the imminent end to Bloomberg’s tenure and appealed to mayoral candidates to reform the policies.

“ This crisis is the Bloomberg Administration’s own making,” said Markee.

The mayor’s office did not reply to requests for comment.