More than 100,000 people sleep in the protection and refuge system every night
New York has always been a city of immigration, multi-ethnic and multi-cultural. Also a glimmer of hope for everyone who is looking for a better life. But this turns against him. Like everything in life, problems arise when something is taken to the extreme. The enormous influx of migrants and asylum seekers is testing the city’s capacities and resources. “This problem will destroy New York,” said its mayor, Eric Adams.
Now the city is facing levels of homelessness not seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
The data. As officials announced this week, New York City has just reached an unfortunate milestone: For the first time in its history, more than 100,000 homeless people are sleeping in shelters and shelters each night. According to the Coalition for the Homeless, that number is now over 110,000. And it must be remembered that this does not include the thousands of others sleeping on the streets.
To make matters worse, the influx of asylum seekers is increasing and now accounts for more than half of the receiving population. Mayor Eric Adams says the city lacks the money, space and staff to care for these asylum seekers. “I don’t see an end to this. We receive 10,000 immigrants every month…. “The city is in the middle of a crisis.” Overall, around one in 80 residents of the country’s largest city has no permanent address.
The actual situation. The city has already spent more than $1.2 billion on immigrant housing this year alone and plans to spend another $4 billion next year. There is even talk of setting up tents in Central Park to accommodate newly arrived migrants, showing how desperate the situation is. And more than two thirds are families with children. Where are you from? Mainly from Latin American countries such as Venezuela, Ecuador and Colombia. Unfortunately, accommodation for asylum seekers is more expensive because many of them cannot meet their basic needs without a work permit.
Most are older. The Department of Housing and Urban Development further states that older adults are the fastest growing group of the homeless population. Many experts are (pejoratively) calling it a growing “silver tsunami.” It is estimated that healthcare and housing costs in New York City would triple in 2030 compared to 2011 and increase by 67% in Los Angeles due to this problem.
Because? Mainly because of the enormous generation of Baby boom, which has made a major contribution to population homelessness since the 1980s, is older today. And America’s aging is leaving more seniors overwhelmed by high housing costs and other financial crises.
In the future. The city’s lawmakers have launched a public campaign to draw attention to the severity of the immigration crisis, and the mayor has called on federal authorities to expedite work permits for asylum seekers. They also announced a new policy that will only allow immigrants to stay in city shelters for 60 days, after which they must reapply for housing.
The real estate crisis. Although there is talk of a migration crisis in many political circles, Philip Yanos, a professor at the City University of New York, is not so sure. And it separates the problem of newcomers from the lack of affordable housing. In fact, high real estate costs are the biggest factor causing someone to become homeless, especially for seniors living on Social Security and no longer working.
In fact, the rapid rise in real estate prices in recent years is also affecting San Francisco, as we commented on Xataka. 53% of respondents who have been homeless in the past year say the cause was “economic hardship.” And a quarter of the people who became homeless in 2018 are on the streets for the first time. That means they are not people who were on the streets and left again. But it’s something that has never happened to them before.
