The major obstacle to ending homelessness, here in Dallas and in countless locales, is a lack of political will. This is why the misleading article in the New York Post, news of which has spread like wildfire throughout the country, is so damaging. Telling folks in other states that NYC is (present tense) busing or shipping or exporting 12,000 homeless people to their communities threatens any chance of developing the political will to solve this problem. And, that means an increase in our own homegrown homelessness.
Now, we have already written here and here how the NY Post made significant errors on the substance. We believe that by dissecting the numbers in the article, we will see why this is even less of a story. There is just no “there” there.
The beginning of the article says that 5,074 families or 12,482 individuals were housed through this NYC program. However, a few paragraphs down, they say that 56% of these families left the state. That means that 44% of these families, i.e. 2,233 families, never left New York State. A few more paragraphs down they say that New Jersey received 2,226 families.
By adding the figures for the states of New York and New Jersey, we get 4,459 families that never left the area. Subtract those families from 5074, and you are left with 615 families. The article tells us that these folks went to 32 other states and territories outside New York and New Jersey. I have asked the folks in NYC for numbers on how many came to Texas and specifically to Dallas. I will update you when I get them. (November 25, 2019 – Scroll down for the update.)
For now, for the sake of argument, let’s just take these 615 families and divide them by the 32 states and territories. 615/32= 18. The program has been in existence for 27 months. 18/27= 0.66. By that estimate, Texas would have received one formerly homeless family about every six weeks.
That family would not be homeless; they would be housed, with NYC paying their rent. By this estimate, NYC injected hard cash into the Texas economy 18 times (for a total of $316,134 by the NY Post’s own estimate), while saving the NYC taxpayer money in the process, because housing is much cheaper than shelter! Even beyond the hard cash NYC is paying Texas landlords, all the other businesses where these families shop are getting ongoing cash injections, as a result of this program.
By that logic, the headlines here in Texas should read: “NYC injects hard cash into Texas economy, ends homelessness for a dozen and half New York families in the process, and saves the New York taxpayer money too!”
Here is our humble request: When you read a news story about homelessness, if its sound a little “off”, treat it accordingly. Handle it with care. Check its source. Read and reread it.
Not doing that has real world consequences. Diminishing the public’s political will hurts real people. Keeping our own homegrown homeless folks on the street and in shelters costs our economy money, not only in real expenditures, but in lost opportunity costs too. That is a true shame.
This is our last word on the subject. Let’s get out there and end homeless.
(November 25, 2019) Two interesting codas to this story:
1) NYC updated our city’s government and stated that out of the 5,074 families who went through the program, only one family ended up in Dallas. That’s right , just one family: Update on New York City Relocation Program for Persons Experiencing Homelessness
2) HawaiiNewsNow already knew that only one family ended up there. They located and spoke to said still housed family. The family clarified how stringent the SOTA program was with them, in ensuring that they would be housed and remain housed.
