Daniel Neiditch’s Blog
Can NYC Use Finland’s Model to Solve Homelessness?
In the past several years, homelessness in New York City has reached its highest levels since the Great Depression of the 1930s. As of June 2019, 60,849 homeless people spend each night in New York City’s municipal shelter system, while thousands more unsheltered homeless people sleep in the streets or other public areas. It’s shocking that one of the richest cities in the world is failing to help its homeless find more stable housing. Is it time for NYC to revamp its strategy? One source of inspiration may come from an unexpected country: Finland. Finland’s Housing-First Model While the housing-first model actually did start in [...]
Why is America’s Teen Suicide Rate Rising While Other Nations’ Rates are Falling?
The United States is in the grips of a deadly and disastrous trend: growing suicide rates among teens and young people. The number of teen suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts and self harm continue to increase, more than doubling from less than half a percent in 2008 to 2 percent in 2015. In 2016, suicide became the second leading cause of death for those between the ages of 10-24. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has noted a spike in suicide rates among 10-14 year olds, and, distressingly, among females in that age group, self-inflicted injury rates have gone up 18.8 percent between 2009 and [...]
5 Things You Can Do Today to Help Stop Teen Suicide
Teen suicide has reached almost epidemic proportions, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noting a 70 percent rise between 2006 and 2016, the most recent year statistics were available. Suicide is an issue with no easy answers; the reasons it happens can almost feel impossible to fully understand. But there are action steps any of us can take to help make sure the young people feeling isolated and depressed don’t make that terrible choice. Here are five actionable steps you can take today to help stop teen suicide. Understand the depths of the problem It’s not an exaggeration to say that suicide is [...]
Checking In on DeBlasio’s Homeless Outreach Overhaul
Homelessness is not a new problem for New York City. But over the years, it has continued to rise, with the troubling trend of families and children being displaced in all corners of the five boroughs. Now, efforts from Mayor de Blasio and the city to overhaul homeless shelters and create affordable housing are underway. Just how effective are these plans, and what else can we do to meaningfully impact homelessness in NYC? According to research by the Coalition for the Homeless, as of August 2018, there were 62,166 homeless people who slept in the city’s municipal shelter system, which included 15,189 homeless families with [...]
Homeless, Hungry, and In College
It’s nice to have a rosy view of the college years--a time of personal growth and learning. Bright-eyed young people are figuring out who they are or want to be in a world full of opportunities. We often imagine that the stress of college life ends at too much homework or roommate drama. However, for many students, this view is far from reality. Not only are the more fortunate among the growing number of homeless students ascending into college, we’ve also seen a troubling trend of middle-class students who become poor only by dint of the fact that they are attending college. Loans, grants, part-time [...]
Is Eliminating Homelessness Possible? These Communities Say Yes
Eradicating homelessness in a community won't protect some of its members from needing to spend a night on the streets. This seems counterintuitive; after all, doesn't eliminating homeless hinge on ending the need for homelessness? In a perfect world, maybe — but we don't live in a utopia, and we're not likely to stumble into one anytime soon. The key to effectively combating homelessness lies in taking a ready and responsive approach; in some communities, a coordinated system for mitigating homelessness has already achieved net-zero success. In December of 2015, Rockford, Illinois became the first town in the U.S. to achieve a "functional zero" state [...]