NYC Forces Homeless Off Streets Despite Coronavirus Shelter Fears
NEW YORK, NEW YORK — Signs posted across New York City send a dire message to street homeless people with few or no places to go amid the new coronavirus outbreak: leave now or lose what little you own.
These Department of Homeless Services signs have been spotted in at least four places in Brooklyn and Manhattan in recent days, said Craig Hughes with the Safety Net Project of the Urban Justice Center.
One sign spotted in Prospect Lefferts Gardens prompted a post to a local Facebook group that encapsulated concerns Hughes and other homeless advocates share.
"The city is threatening people living on the street with removal of their stuff by March 30," the post read. "Forcing them into shelters, where the risk of infection is much greater AND destroying their stuff."
So-called "street sweeps" by city agencies have been a controversial practice among homeless people and advocates. They argue that forcing street homeless from where they bed down criminalizes poverty and does nothing to help the underlying issues leading to homelessness.
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And now there's a new concern — spreading the coronavirus into shelters and further into already-vulnerable homeless communities.
Breaking up homeless camps and other spots is exactly the opposite of what the CDC recommends, advocates argue.
"Unless individual housing units are available, do not clear encampments during community spread of COVID-19," states CDC guidance for addressing the coronavirus among homeless people. "Clearing encampments can cause people to disperse throughout the community and break connections with service providers. This increases the potential for infectious disease spread."
But the city's Department of Social Services argues that the CDC guidance applies to homeless tent cities and only if no other housing is available.
They're also modifying their single adult shelter procedures to provide social distancing, DSS said.
"Our essential shelter staff and outreach teams continue reporting for duty every day and they stand ready to effectively connect any New Yorker experiencing homelessness who expresses any COVID-like symptoms to care or isolation for monitoring and recovery, helping us target the need and mitigate," said DSS spokesman Isaac McGinn in a statement.
Hughes said street sweeps often force street homeless into the city's shelter system, which many avoid for fear of violence and other reasons.
There have been 99 confirmed coronavirus cases in 59 city shelters, according to DSS. That's compared to seven confirmed among homeless people living on the streets.
Hughes said Mayor Bill de Blasio and city agencies are continuing a long tradition of enforcing quality of life crimes. It was already unproductive, but now it's truly dangerous, he said.
"They’re putting that person who’s already struggling at higher risk," he said.
The best way to prevent spreading coronavirus is giving homeless people a chance for individualized shelter, Hughes said. He echoed a recent call by the Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless to provide hotel placements for homeless people.
The groups sent a letter outlining situations in which homeless people with positive coronavirus diagnoses stayed in shelter dormitories or were told to return to shelters after being told they have COVID-19.
"For their own welfare and for the sake of those they interact with, there is an urgent need to place them in empty hotels and apartments to recover from mild illness, to isolate them after discharge from the ER or inpatient care, and to achieve the safety of social distance," said Shelly Nortz, deputy executive director for policy with the Coalition for the Homeless, in a statement.
DSS data states they have 550 isolation units, with 140 people currently in isolation.
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This article originally appeared on the Prospect Heights-Crown Heights Patch
