Chair Stevens on capacity challenges and reducing waitlists

How is DYCD responding to ongoing capacity challenges across the RHY shelter system?

What step is the agency taking to reduce wait lists and prevent young people from being turned away?

I'll start with that.

I think it's important to share some context.

I think the RHI system has grown thanks in large part to council's investment.

We added the 100 beds for HIA.

We continue to grow.

There were times like following that significant growth over the past several years where we saw really the needs of

the needs being able largely to be met.

I think there was a gap identified around 21 to 24, which year through your support we've helped to mitigate.

But we saw through some of our data points, like the shelter access report was virtually zero.

Our utilization was showing availability.

And then

During COVID, we saw a lot of hesitancy around accessing congregate care, so our utilization rates were very low during that time.

It wasn't a representation of need necessarily.

In more recent years, with the surge of migrants, new New Yorkers coming to New York City, we saw an absolute...

Influx at our drop-in centers, at our crisis shelters, at our TIL, and it was, that's when you saw our shelter access reports really, really creep up.

So I think one thing we're seeing with respect to the shelter access reports going down is that if we keep working on that, we could potentially get back to the point where we were coming very close to meeting the needs of young people, and that's our goal.

So we want to keep driving those numbers of any young person who can't access a youth center.

program down.

And I think we're moving in that direction.

And we still have, you know, we're still growing.

Unfortunately.