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Estimating needed capacity for low barrier beds to address street homelessness

3:15:19

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113 sec

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Council Member Restler and Commissioner Park discuss the estimated capacity needed for low barrier beds to address street homelessness. Key points include:

The committed goal of 4,900 beds is considered excellent
The long-term strategy involves better system engagement and planning to reduce discharges to DHS from incarceral systems and hospitals
The focus is on placing people into permanent housing while continuing to monitor and adjust capacity needs

Lincoln Restler

3:15:19

Okay.

3:15:20

And then, so that takes us from about 4,000 to 4,900 give or take.

3:15:28

Commissioner or administrator Carter, in Urals from Urals perspective, how many beds do we need?

3:15:36

Right?

3:15:37

You say that we fill these beds quite immediately.

3:15:39

They're generally quite successful for addressing the needs of most street homeless New Yorkers.

3:15:45

I like to say that the one thing that unifies all street homeless New Yorkers is that they've been through the shelter system and decided not to go back.

3:15:53

And so how we convince them to come back into these low barrier beds, safe haven beds is critically important.

3:16:00

And what do we think to actually be able to address street homelessness at scale in New York City, what do you think should be in an ideal world if you had a magic wand and Jack Sheehan didn't exist, how many safe haven beds or low barrier beds do we need?

Molly Wasow Park

3:16:18

I think the 4,900 that we have committed to is an excellent goal.

3:16:24

I think we are going to continue to monitor and I think getting to an ultimate number is really I think the long term play needs to be how do we have more systems engaged in the planning and so that we are doing less of the discharge to DHS, whether it's discharge from incarceral systems, discharge from hospitals, how are we making sure that there are fewer people falling through that safety net?

3:16:56

I'm not naive enough to say that it's never going to be never.

3:17:00

But if we can do a better job with that upfront planning while continuing to focus on placing people into permanent housing, I am hopeful that that four thousand nine hundred is a very good number.

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Funding and expansion of low barrier beds and Safe Haven facilities

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Coordination challenges between hospital, carceral, and shelter systems