NYC's Hotel Costs for Homeless Soar

New York City’s cost to house homeless people in hotels has jumped more than sevenfold over the past year.

An analysis released Wednesday by the city’s Comptroller Scott Stringer shows total hotel costs rising to $400,000 a night. The comptroller’s analysis also shows that the average daily rate per hotel room rose about $160 to more than $193 a night – with over 800 bookings for $400 or more, including some rooms that cost taxpayers $629 per night.

“These costs are absolutely alarming. While I know that progress will take time, we cannot continue to accept the status quo,” Stringer said in a press release. “The city promised to end its reliance on both cluster sites and hotels – and we are no doubt trending in the wrong direction. The city is not moving the needle on this extraordinary problem, and that’s why we continue to speak out.”

The analysis shows that between Nov. 1, 2015 and Oct. 31, 2016:

• The number of hotel rooms booked by the Department of Homeless Services increased 540% to 2,069 from 324. DHS made a total of 425,000 hotel room bookings that cost more than $72.9 million; 

• The estimated number of homeless people in commercial hotels in New York City rose 745% to 5,881 from 696;
• The average daily rate DHS paid for a commercial hotel room increased by 20% to $194 in October from $163 per night last November; and
• The most expensive rooms cost $629 per night with 30 of them booked for two days in September. Over the course of the year, 815 bookings were made for $400 a night or higher.

Commercial hotel units cost on average about $6,600 per month, or almost $79,000 on an annual basis – nearly double the cost for any other shelter type, the report said.
Stringer has urged the city to adopt a comprehensive, transparent plan to solve the homeless crisis, which he said continues to escalate.

“I am calling on the city to develop a comprehensive, transparent roadmap to solve this extraordinary crisis. The city doesn’t have one – and it needs one urgently because we are undoubtedly sliding backwards and our homeless children deserve more,” Stringer said in a press release.

Separately, a report released on Wednesday by the U.S. Conference of Mayors found that despite the economic recovery, many cities across the country have rates of homelessness higher than the national rate, while showing only a small increase in requests for emergency food assistance. The results of the annual hunger and homelessness report were unveiled Wednesday by Santa Barbara Mayor Helene Schneider, USCM’s CEO Tom Cochran and Director of the Homelessness Research Institute at the National Alliance to End Homelessness Samantha Batko.

The report found:

• The rate in study cities was 51 homeless people per 10,000 in the general public. This is higher than the national rate of homelessness of 17 people per 10,000;
• Nationally, homelessness has been falling for several years, with a 12.9% decrease being seen from 2009 to 2016, including a 2.6% decrease from 2015 to 2016. Two-thirds (65%) of study cities followed the long-term trend, reporting decreases from 2009 to 2016, and two-thirds (62%) also reported decreases from 2015 to 2016.
• For the most part, trends in homelessness in the study cities followed trends seen nationally, with some notable exceptions. These included trends in unsheltered, individual, and chronic homelessness where increases in study cities either contradict national trends or are driving increases nationally.
• Study cities show that even if every emergency shelter bed and transitional housing bed were to be filled, more than 34,000 people would still be unsheltered on any given night.

In terms of solutions, the report said that communities of all types and sizes respond to homelessness with a variety of housing and service programs. These include emergency shelters, rapid re-housing, permanent supportive housing, and transitional housing. A shift toward permanent housing solutions has taken place since 2013, the analysis stated, with cities mainly following this trend.
“We are pleased to work with the National Alliance (to End Homelessness) this year on the report,” said Schneider, chair of the USCM Task Force. “The conference’s work on this report is already well known nationally, but the alliance will help us to broaden our perspective as we seek to find solutions to help the people in our communities who are most vulnerable.”

Using the alliance’s expertise, this year's report was able for the first time to present a snapshot of homelessness in U.S. cities as well as compare trends in homelessness between cities and the nation as a whole.

In the same analysis, the report’s findings on hunger discovered:

• That 41% of survey cities reported the number of requests for emergency food assistance increased over the past year. Across the survey cities, emergency food assistance increased by an average of 2%; 
• Among those requesting emergency food assistance, 63% were persons in families, 51% were employed, 18% were elderly, and 8% were homeless;
• Low wages led the list of causes of hunger cited by survey cities; followed by high housing costs and poverty; and
• City officials said that more affordable housing, more jobs and increase in SNAP benefits are actions that should be taken to reduce hunger. Employment training programs, better paying jobs, affordable childcare, higher wages are other important actions to take to reduce hunger.

“It is encouraging that the number of people needing emergency food assistance in our cities and metropolitan areas appears to be shrinking,” said USCM CEO and Executive Director Tom Cochran. “Nevertheless, it is concerning that even people who are employed continue to need the help of food pantries to make ends meet.”
A total of 32 cities were included for the analysis of homelessness while 38 cities were included for the analysis of hunger.