De Blasio aims to fix troubled homeless shelter system
As New York City grapples with its homelessness crisis, many of those sleeping on the street have said they’d prefer to be outside than contend with the city’s at-times overburdened, dirty and even dangerous shelter system.
Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has repeatedly acknowledged that the shelter system needed to improved, was poised to identify a new plan to identify and fix problems with the city’s sprawling, 500-shelter system. Administration officials told the Associated Press that the mayor was scheduled to announce the overhaul Wednesday.
“For decades, our shelters have not been safe enough or clean enough, and that’s just not acceptable,” the Democratic mayor said in a statement to the AP. “I don’t want anyone refusing to come into a homeless shelter because of bad conditions.”