$8M Plan To Reach Homeless In Stores, Banks And Other Non-Public Space

NEW YORK, NY — Banks, stores, ATM vestibules and other private spaces usually free of city outreach teams will now be reachable by workers helping the homeless, according to Mayor Eric Adams.

The mayor announced Tuesday that more than 60 private companies have stepped up to fund 100 outreach workers who, unlike city contracted teams, can approach homeless New Yorkers when they are in non-public spaces like retail shops and private plazas.

The $8 million initiative adds a new layer to Adams' at-times controversial approach to reaching the homeless, who he has also sent teams to clear from the subways and the city's street.

"In concert with the city’s unprecedented efforts and investments on the subways and in the streets, we can make sure that none of our brothers and sisters experiencing homelessness falls through the cracks," Adams said. "I’m grateful to the Partnership for New York City for spearheading this effort and our business partners for stepping up and coming together to help fight homelessness.”

The public-private initiative, called the Homeless Assistance Fund, will let nonprofit Breaking Ground expand its existing program that sends outreach worker teams to areas not covered by city contracts, such as ATM vestibules, retail spaces and plazas, officials said.

It will initially target major transit hubs and office districts like Midtown Manhattan, Lower Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn.

Breaking Ground teams offer homeless New Yorkers access to their 4,000 units of permanent supportive housing, 500 units of transitional and "safe haven" housing or help finding and getting to a city shelter.

This week's homelessness funding comes after a similar outreach blitz Adams announced last week, which will have civil rights attorney Norman Siegel set up volunteer teams to reach those living on the street.

Both volunteer programs will not mean an end to the mayor's own controversial approach to street homelessness, which has spurred tense stand-offs and protests across the city as teams tear down hundreds of makeshift homes.

Adams has said the city's homelessness crisis has been exacerbated even further in recent weeks given more than 2,800 people seeking asylum in the city, though advocates have argued he has used the migrant families as a scapegoat for long-standing problems in the shelter system.

The city acknowledged last week that it violated its right-to-shelter law when four families slept overnight at an intake center, a violation The Legal Aid Society told the New York Times hasn't happened since at least 2014.