Socialist New York Mayor Bill de Blasio’s policies have driven up homelessness in his city to record levels, according to the City-Journal, which reports that in early December, the number of homeless people had risen to roughly 61,000, up from roughly 53,600 when de Blasio was inaugurated in January 2014.
The City-Journal noted that the current number excludes street people, who number in the thousands.
In 1981, New York’s state supreme court issued a consent decree that forced the city to provide the homeless with taxpayer-funded housing, thus catalyzing demand to skyrocket.
As the City-Journal reported, “New York University professor Thomas Main identified three distinct mayoral approaches to homelessness since the 1981 consent decree: an “entitlement phase” under mayors Ed Koch and David Dinkins; a period of “paternalism” under Rudolph Giuliani; and a “post-paternalism” stage under Michael Bloomberg. This last stage continues under de Blasio.”
Unlike Koch and Dinkins, Giuliani made work a part of earning benefits, but when Michael Bloomberg succeeded him, reciprocity rules were relaxed, triggering a growth in the homeless number again. De Blasio has eliminated any work rules or other quid pro quos for benefits.
Steven Banks, de Balsio’s top social worker, has overseen a growth of those getting free shelter from 20% of those seeking it under Bloomberg to 50% under de Blasio.
The City-Journal adds that newcomers placed in commercial hotels has tripled.
It’s no surprise that New York is plagued by homelessness, since one of its problems is that it suffers from rent-control. As noted by the National Multifamily Housing Council, “Economists are virtually unanimous in their condemnation of rent control. In a survey of economists of the American Economic Association, fully 93 percent agreed that “a ceiling on rents reduces the quality and quantity of housing available.”
Rent control inhibits new construction; triggers the deterioration of existing housing, reduces consumer mobility, and ultimately targets the poor, because of the drop in the quality of existing rental housing and reduced access to new housing.
As The Library of Economics and Liberty has noted, “That cities like New York have clearly not been destroyed by rent control is due to the fact that rent control has been relaxed over the years … Rent control has destroyed entire sections of sound housing in New York’s South Bronx and has led to decay and abandonment throughout the entire five boroughs of the city.”