The city is expanding outreach to homeless people in order to move them off the subway and steer them toward housing and social services.
Katie Pyzyk reports that New York City plans to increase outreach to homeless people on the subway through the Homeless Outreach & Mobile Engagement Street Action Teams (HOME-STAT) initiative.
The HOME-STAT activities will include development of an interagency command center, an increase in outreach efforts, and a shared closed-circuit television feed to help teams with monitoring of the subway network.
"The initiatives are designed to get shelter and other supportive services to individuals experiencing homelessness, even if they have repeatedly refused those services in the past. The city's statements about the homeless solutions repeatedly reference efforts to get homeless people to 'accept services,'" says Pyzyk.
The New York Police Department also launched a Subway Diversion Project in June, an initiative that seeks to steer homeless people to outreach services and support programs.
Read the full story: BRIEF NYC steps up outreach to homeless using subway as shelter
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