Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to build 15,000 supportive housing units to help the city handle its homelessness crisis is not moving forward very quickly.
City officials originally said a minimum of 250 units would open in 2016 but didn’t sign contracts with providers until the end of the year, and only 48 units of the 550 promised in those agreements have since opened, according to the New York Post.
Advocates blame the delay on the city having trouble finding landlords willing to participate. The plan called for 7,500 units to be newly built and 7,500 to be leased with vouchers, but housing experts have said the amount of vouchers available far exceeds the amount of housing available.
Steven Banks, commissioner of the Department of Social Services, told the Post the program was proceeding smoothly and that 87 people should be placed in new units by the end of October, while 500 should be in homes by the end of the year. [NYP] – Eddie Small