Bloomie's deputy thinks his numbers are full of crap

From the NY Times:

At a news conference at the Department of Homeless Services, Commissioner Robert V. Hess cheerfully announced the results of the annual Homeless Outreach Population Estimate, which was conducted in January. More than 2,000 volunteers comb some of the city’s streets for one night each year, looking for homeless people in parks, bus shelters and subways.

The total of 2,328 people counted in the survey, Mr. Hess said, is “a far cry from the 4,395 that we first counted in 2005.”

Not a chance, responded the Coalition for the Homeless, an advocacy group in New York.

“The numbers released by the city today defy credibility and run counter to what New Yorkers observe every day on New York’s streets,” Mary Brosnahan, the executive director, said in a statement. “The Bloomberg administration is claiming that there is the same number of homeless people in New York City as in San Diego — a city with one sixth of New York’s population. Looked at over a four-year period the city is arguing it has cut street homelessness in half. Do New Yorkers really think there are half as many homeless people on our streets as four years ago?”

“You know, this is a little bit counterintuitive,” said Deputy Mayor Linda I. Gibbs, who oversees homeless programs. “How is it that, in this economy, with everything that’s going on and all the need we see, with the recession, the loss of jobs, the instability in the housing market — how is it that we can see such a dramatic drop, a 30 percent drop, in street homelessness this year compared to last?”

Yes, it is, Linda. Do you think the B.S. numbers could be because it's an election year?


Photo by Mr. Angry.