Council Member Brewer explains Intro 99 on family shelter placements
Brewer says Intro 99 would require DHS to report annually on families with children placed in the same or an adjoining zip code as their last address, to keep children near schools and support networks.
Councilmember Brewer, I now pass to you to make a statement about the legislation you're sponsoring today.
Thank you very much.
Intro 99, as you heard earlier, would require the Department of Homeless Services to do this annual report on the number and percentage of families with children in the system who are placed in the same zip
code as their last address prior to their placement into a shelter.
And the number and percentage who were placed in an adjoining zip code.
Families entering the shelter system, as you know, should be able to remain close to their schools, their child care, their doctors, their jobs, and their community support networks whenever possible.
Placing families far from their former homes creates additional hardships, particularly for families with young children who rely on nearby child care and family support.
We in the council and the public need to know how often families are placed in shelters in their former zip code or an adjoining zip code.
Currently, this information is not regularly reported.
Intro 99 requires DHS to report annually on shelter placements with data broken down by borough and by families with children under age three and those with older children.
I believe that this reporting will help the council identify where families are being displaced from their communities and push for shelter placement policies that minimize disruption to children's lives.
I must admit during the
issue when we had so many wonderful migrants here.
I really appreciated the work that the Adams administration did despite all the challenges and housing people.
With DSS at the time, we worked really hard to keep, if people move shelters, to keep them in their school zone.
based on all of this criteria to remain close, schools are the most important.
And I want this bill particularly to try to keep the families near their schools, absenteeism, a DLE, or whatever the hell it's called now, New York City Public Schools.
Is huge and I have a horrible feeling that part of it is because people just can't get to school.
I also always want to thank Wynn for their support.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.