DESPITE CONDEMNATION, HESS HOLDS HIS GROUND
Called reckless by some, a new homeless families' policy is having the desired effect, testifies the Department of Homeless Services commissioner. > By Tram Whitehurst
City Limits WEEKLY #611
October 29, 2007

After only two weeks, the lines have been clearly drawn in a vigorous debate over the new Department of Homeless Services (DHS) policy eliminating emergency overnight shelter for homeless families deemed to have other housing options. Both DHS staff and opponents of the measure packed a City Council General Welfare Committee hearing last week to examine the controversial policy change.

In his testimony before the committee, DHS Commissioner Robert Hess gave a progress report on the new policy and explained how and why it came to be. Hess argued that it has been successful in limiting the number of ineligible families who show up at the Prevention Assistance for Temporary Housing (PATH) facility in the Bronx. Since Oct. 12 when the policy was implemented, the total number of families seeking “late arrival placement”—or shelter after 5 p.m.—was 46 percent lower than in the weeks prior to the change. A total of 16 families previously found ineligible for shelter persisted in requesting late night placement over the past two weeks, 11 of which were once again denied shelter, he said. According to Hess, the policy “is helping to restore order at PATH and strengthen a system that is dedicated to providing support and services to homeless families.”

Critics at the hearing were not convinced by Hess’s testimony and questioned the logic and motivation behind the policy. Expressing a concern voiced by several speakers, Councilman Bill de Blasio, a Brooklyn Democrat and chair of the committee, asked Hess: “Why would a family come back [to PATH] if they had a viable alternative?”