Council members push for boost in housing for homeless

Ritchie Torres says city's 750 units won't "dent" crisis

Ritchie Torres
Ritchie Torres

Eighteen members of the City Council yesterday sent a joint letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio urging him to set aside more than 2,500 units of public housing per year for homeless families. In its affordable housing plan, the city has allocated 750 apartments for families leaving homeless shelters.

Council member Ritchie Torres, of the Bronx, called the current number “too timid.”

“The mayor is failing to set aside enough units to leave a dent in the crisis,” Torres said.

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A spokesperson for the mayor told the New York Daily News the decision was part of a much broader plan to tackle the homelessness issue in the city.

In April, the city opted to kick out roughly 200 homeless New Yorkers from a two-building emergency shelter on the Upper West Side, freeing up at least 100 affordable housing units slated for low-income residents, as previously reported. [NYDN]Mark Maurer