Uniting for Solutions Beyond Shelter

The City of New York is implementing a citywide plan, "Uniting for Solutions Beyond Shelter," to end chronic homelessness in five years. This plan represents the first-ever effort in the City to bring together the public, nonprofit, and business sectors in a coordinated campaign to address homelessness. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg released the plan in June 2004 and a more detailed implementation schedule in September 2004.

The goals of Uniting for Solutions Beyond Shelter are:
- To reduce street homelessness and the shelter population by two-thirds in five years.
- To eliminate chronic, or long-term, homelessness on City streets and shelters in five years.

The plan's objectives include initiatives to better serve individuals and families who are at-risk of homelessness or who become homeless, as well as ensure that the City and its citizens are maximizing public resources. The plan has nine points - encompassing 60 initiatives - that seek to:

- Overcome street homelessness
- Prevent homelessness
- Coordinate discharge planning
- Coordinate city services and benefits
- Minimize disruption to homeless families and children
- Minimize duration of homelessness
- Shift resources into preferred solutions
- Provide resources for vulnerable populations to access and afford housing
- Measure progress, evaluate success, and invest in continuous quality improvement.

Just one year after the plan's release, the shelter population is down almost 10%, to approximately 33,000 individuals. More clients are being served at home through community-based prevention and re-housing supports as the City sees the action plan's many initiatives move toward reality. Other accomplishments include:

- The first-ever citywide Homeless Outreach Population Estimate (HOPE) was conducted and resulted in the first statistically sound estimate of the number of individuals living in the streets and public spaces in the five boroughs.
- HomeBase, the City's community-based homeless prevention program, has been launched in six high need community districts and has already served close to 750 households.
- Thirty Medicaid pre-screeners began screening inmates at Rikers Island for Medicaid prior to discharge.
- Path (Prevention Assistance and Temporary Housing) Office opened to serve all single pregnant women and families with children who are applying for shelter for the first-time and its intake process reflects the Special Master Panel report recommendations.
- Housing Stability Plus, the City's rental assistance plan to provide a supplement to families, adult families without children, and single adults residing in shelter, as well as families prepared to reunify with children in foster care in need of adequate housing, was approved by the State and implemented.
- Partners for Permanency - a project piloted in 6 single adult shelters - was initiated in Adult Services, resulting in participating shelters reducing the number of 9-month stayers by 26% over a six-month period.