Homeless Families and their "Right to Shelter" in New York City: Uncertainty at the Front Door

Abstract

This report compares the Department of Homeless Services's shelter entry data for families during the first four years of "Uniting for Solutions Beyond Shelter," initiated in 2004 with the "Right to Shelter" law enacted in New York 1986 which legally mandated the provision of emergency shelter to all in need. Twenty-three years after "Right to Shelter", it appears that this right is in jeopardy because of bureaucratic policies and procedures employed by the city to defer, if not deny, shelter to eligible families