Investigation Finds 'Unsafe and Unhealthy' Conditions in City's Homeless Shelters

Many of New York City's homeless shelters are plagued by unsafe and unhealthy conditions, according to a report from the Department of Investigation released Thursday.

DOI found 621 violations in 25 shelters during a year-long investigation. Nineteen of those shelters had passed an inspection conducted by the Department of Homeless Services in the previous six months.

Commissioner Mark Peters said conditions in the so-called cluster sites, private buildings DHS uses to house homeless families, were the worst.

“We found garbage piled up in the hallways, we found vermin infestation,” he said, describing one of those buildings. “We found a rat being left to decompose for days in an apartment that four children were living in.”

Peters said the problems with the shelter system are a result of the city’s “neglect” and “poor planning” for over a decade and that it needs “aggressive immediate as well as long term reform efforts.”

The Department of Homeless Services said it closed two shelters that were cited in the report and addressed the majority of violations in other shelters.