New York, NY —

Advocates for the homeless say Mayor Bloomberg's five-year plan to reduce homelessness is a failure. In 2004, the mayor pledged to reduce the number of people in city shelters by two-thirds. But Patrick Markee of the Coalition for the Homeless says the administration embraced flawed programs and eliminated good ones.

MARKEE: We're hoping that the mayor and his administration will realize they need to change course and instead they need to embrace policies that have been proven in research and in experience to actually reduce the numbers of homeless families and individuals in New York City.

REPORTER: Markee says federal vouchers for public housing should never have been abandoned. His group says the number of people in the shelters is essentially unchanged and the number of homeless families is now nine percent higher.

But Homeless Services Commissioner Rob Hess says there have been improvements in the city's handling of the homeless population.

HESS: There's more and more families that have needs for our services, but we're providing those services to them faster, more efficiently, with higher dignity and respect than they've ever been before.

REPORTER: The city says street homelessness is down 47 percent, and increases among other homeless groups are due to the economy.