Daniel Neiditch’s Blog
NYC Is Spending $1.2 Billion On Homelessness. So Why Is It Getting Worse?
This post was originally featured on HuffingtonPost.com It’s a little-known fact that the City of New York is legally obliged to provide housing for those without it, but with the explosion in the city’s homeless population, you’d be forgiven for not knowing that. The number of people staying in shelters in New York City has grown by over 10,000 since Mayor de Blasio took office to more than 60,000, with no relief in sight. There is no official estimate for those who are not in shelters, but needless to say the total number of homeless in the city is a great deal higher. After committing to a record $1.6 billion in [...]
5 Troubling Statistics About Homelessness That You Should Know
This post was originally featured on HuffingtonPost.com In general, our country is seeing a decline in homelessness, but it’s still way too early to begin patting ourselves on the back for a job well done. From 2015 to 2016, the homeless population decreased by 3%, although that statistic is complicated by the fact that there was only a decrease among individuals living in sheltered locations (such as emergency shelters and transitional housing) while there was actually an increase in those living in unsheltered locations. While many of the other statistics in The 2016 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress depict an overall improvement, there are [...]
How Bad is Homelessness in America, Really?
The GDP of America is an astronomical $18 trillion. To put it in perspective, if California seceded from the United States, it would have the eighth largest GDP of all the countries in the world (just beating out Italy). When you start to consider just how much money exists in America, it makes the fact that we even have homelessness seems all the more absurd. Depending on where you live across the country, you may have different ideas about how prolific the homeless situation is in this country. That’s why stats can help make the realities a bit more clear. So the question is: how [...]
The Cost of ‘Sheltering’ The Homeless May Be Too High
A question I hear a lot when I’m talking about homelessness in New York, is: “why don’t the homeless just stay in shelters?” It is more complex than many New Yorkers imagine–both the problems and the purported solutions. For me, the more important question is: ‘why shelters at all?’ As someone who has spent a lot of time with the homeless–as a volunteer EMT and as someone who lived on the streets for 3 nights–I know firsthand how we have failed our homeless population. Providing shelters, both private and public, may seem like a solution for those who aren’t homeless, but for those who are, [...]
6 Ways to Pay it Forward in Your New York Community
This post was originally featured on HuffingtonPost.com There’s no place on Earth quite like New York City. Its energy and opportunity attract millions of people who want to be part of the Big Apple, and to those millions, the city gives so much. Actors, artists, businessmen, and professionals all benefit from everything New York has to offer. The same people who thrive from the city’s many gifts are also the people who make New York a place who give back to others. With so many ways to give back, paying it forward is easier than you’d think. Tutor with Masa Masa, a Bronx-based organization dedicated [...]
Study: New Yorkers Are Roughly 1 Paycheck Away From Homelessness
New York City is famous the world over for its glitz and glamour, featured in all sorts of popular entertainment from movies to television shows. Yet not all that glitters is gold. Life in paradise is much harder than one may think. In fact, many New Yorkers are one paycheck away from homelessness, forced into a monthly catch-22--a cycle causing of perpetual anxiety.