Mayor Bill de Blasio made it his mission to reduce homelessness, but the scale of the problem has so far proved overwhelming.
REUTERS/CARLO ALLEGRI
During Michael Bloomberg's term as mayor, the number of homeless in the city soared more than 70%, reaching a record high of 53,000, according to the advocacy group Coalition for the Homeless.
Before he took office as Mayor, de Blasio had indicated his commitment to tackling the problem with a new approach. "We have the highest number of people in shelter in the history of this city," he said on Dec. 12, 2013, "the highest number in the city-run shelter system ever, the highest number of people who are homeless in any sense literally since the Great Depression, and it simply can't continue."
"So we will address the problems in the shelter system and we will take a very different approach," he said.
But de Blasio's efforts are still struggling against the continuing surge.
A total of 59,246 slept in New York City homeless shelters each night in October, up more than 6,000 from one year before.
Coalition for the Homeless / Via coalitionforthehomeless.org
