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April 9, 2013 CCC is United to End Homelessness!
Jennifer March-Joly, CCC Executive Director Homelessness is at a record high in New York City and CCC has joined forces with over 100 other organizations to make ending homelessness a priority for current and future New York City elected leaders. Last night over 10,000 families with over 22,000 children slept in the City’s family homeless shelters. This is a 23% increase in just the last 2 years! Countless more children and youth are sleeping in Runaway and Homeless Youth shelters, on the streets, or are doubled up in over-crowded apartments. Homelessness disrupts the lives of children, separating them from their homes, friends, schools, and communities. It can affect their physical and mental health. For example, children experiencing homelessness suffer from four times as many respiratory infections, five times as many gastrointestinal infections, and twice as many ear infections compared to children who are not homeless. Half of school-age homeless children experience anxiety, depression, or withdrawal, compared to 18 percent of children who are not homeless, and one in three homelessness children ages eight and under suffer from a major mental disorder. Homeless children also face serious educational disruptions. For example, children in City shelters have an attendance rate of 82.7 percent, which is insufficient to meet the Department of Education’s 90 percent attendance requirement for promotion. In addition, homelessness is expensive for New York City taxpayers: the average cost of providing shelter for a homeless family is $3,000 per month, well above the monthly costs of the median New Yorker’s rent or the typical housing subsidy. We need a new approach to end homelessness. Today, CCC was proud to stand with over 100 organizations to publicly launch “United to End Homelessness.” This Coalition has developed a platform and will be urging all Mayoral, citywide and City Council current and future leaders to make ending homelessness a top priority in New York City. You can read the press release from today’s launch and the platform. Key recommendations in the platform include:
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Please keep all comments civil and on-topic. CCC reserves the right to remove any comments deemed inappropriate.Rootlessness is at the root of many of our children’s serious problems. Our data glares at the issue and mandates we act if only for the sake of fiscal prudence.