With temperatures dropping, advocates for the homeless are accusing New York City of shirking its legal obligations to provide shelter for homeless individuals. Under a 1981 consent decree, which has been the subject of frequent litigation, the city is required to provide all eligible homeless men and women with shelter and board at city facilities. But according to court papers filed yesterday in Manhattan Supreme Court by the Coalition for the Homeless, for the past three months, with the adult shelter system allegedly exceeding 100 percent capacity, the city has been shipping women to a midnight dormitory, cramming beds into overcrowded facilities, and using other “stopgap measures” in violation of the so-called Callahan consent decree. The Coalition also has found homeless women and men sleeping on tables and floors in shelters, according to the suit, Callahan v. Carey, 42582/79. “These are the conditions in November and thus far in December, and the demand for shelter will only grow as the weather gets colder,” the coalition said. The suit asks the court to make the city submit a remedial plan within a week setting forth how it will comply with the “core” consent decree requirement to “provide lawful shelter to homeless New Yorkers.”
In a statement, New York City Department of Homeless Services Commissioner Robert V. Hess denied the coalition’s allegations and said that his agency “is in full compliance with its legal obligations.” Mr. Hess said, “Any allegations about DHS being over capacity are inaccurate and alarmist. The fear that we will not have enough beds to meet the need ahead of us should be allayed by the city’s record of meeting the need regardless of fluctuations in demand.” The Legal Aid Society serves as court appointed counsel to individuals under the consent decree. - Noeleen G. Walder
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