Homeless On The Decline In Queens?

Homeless On Decline In Queens For Third Year

According to new data released by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Homeless Services Commissioner Robert Hess, homelessness is in decline for the third straight year throughout New York City.

“Tackling homelessness in its many forms has been a priority for our Administration – and I’m pleased to announce further progress in our efforts to help people leave the streets for a better life,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “The good news, from both humanitarian and quality of life perspectives, is that a quarter fewer New Yorkers live on city streets today than when we started measuring in 2005. We will continue to bring innovation and focused management attention to this
longstanding urban challenge.”

New York City has an estimated 3,306 unsheltered individuals according to HOPE 2008 – a ratio of one unsheltered homeless individual to 2,485.

Heh... Where do I begin? First of all anything regarding the poor, homeless or impoverished is skewed to make the numbers look better. Are the homeless on the decline? Maybe the homeless themselves are on the decline but homelessness may actually be increasing. From my own experiences in the past year or so, I could argue that I have seen more homeless now than ever. Toting signs saying "Lets Do Lunch, On You". Perhaps the sight of people digging through trash cans and recycling bins for deposit cans is common, however over the last year or so I have seen a drastic increase ( hence why the Bigger Bottle Bill proposed by NYPIRG will be beneficial). I could go on and on about this but I will spare you, at least for now.

These estimates were done based on Surveys. Anyone who has ever taken a Sociology class or a Psychology class knows that people lie on Surveys.

Well at least its good to see an attempt of shedding light on the problem of homelessness.