Number of homeless people on Long Island reached a 10-year high last year, but NYS figure decreased
The number of homeless people on Long Island reached a 10-year high last year, even as statewide numbers dropped, according to an analysis released this week by the state comptroller.
Long Island’s homeless population rose by 13.4% over 2024, from 4,002 to 4,540, based on the latest point-in-time count, conducted each January in communities across the United States and tabulated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The numbers, which are released on a lag because of the time it takes to analyze and verify them, are intended to guide policy and allocations of resources.
The regional total has grown more slowly than New York State and national numbers. But it included a sharp jump in the number of unsheltered homeless people, from 209 to 320. Black Long Islanders were more than twice as likely than their white counterparts to be homeless and children’s homelessness remains intractable: 1,493, or almost one-third of the regional total.
In an email, Mike Giuffrida, associated director for Long Island Coalition for the Homeless, the Amityville-based advocacy group that coordinates the yearly census of Long Island’s homeless people, said the main driver of homelessness on the Island was “the severe lack of affordable housing.”
Other drivers, like the influx of asylum seekers to New York City and the end of pandemic-era assistance, have largely worked their way through the regional economy. But about one-third of Long Island homeowners are cost-burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of their monthly income on housing, according to census data. Renters make up less than one-fifth of Long Island households, but more than half are cost-burdened.
“The majority of people entering homelessness on Long Island are aging adults that have lived here their entire lives, as well as local working families with children” whose incomes have not matched inflation, Giuffreida wrote, citing data from the United States Government Accountability Office and the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness that correlates each $100 increase in median rent with a 9% increase in homelessness.
More eviction prevention and shelter diversion efforts targeted to families most likely to enter homelessness would reduce family trauma and state and county shelter costs by $100,000 or more per family, Giuffreda wrote.
Families in shelter spend close to 90% of their income on shelter payments, he wrote. “Somehow, they are supposed to save enough money to secure a rental unit. Our community at large is well aware of the costs to live here, but we need to do more to urgently address who this leaves behind.”
Representatives for Suffolk and Nassau County did not respond to requests for comment.
The report from Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli’s office highlighted some positive developments. Gov. Kathy Hochul last year signed a package of legislation intended to make housing more affordable, including dedication of $1.5 billion in state funding. Her office announced in May that it had created or preserved 81,000 affordable homes and was on track to meet its 100,000-home goal ahead of schedule.
In 2022, the Regional Plan Association estimated the state would need more than 800,000 units of housing by 2032 to meet projected demand. But homebuilding is relatively slow in New York, partly because of restrictive local zoning and permitting. Between 2012 and 2022, the number of housing units statewide increased by 5.7%, said Maria Doulis, the comptroller’s head of budget and policy analysis; by contrast, Texas grew its housing supply by almost 20%.
Recent changes to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development policy could also complicate local and state efforts to reduce homelessness. In June, federal officials announced a plan to shift billions of dollars in funding from permanent housing to temporary shelters, prioritizing drug treatment and recovery.
The National Alliance to End Homelessness has estimated the plan will cut $1.23 billion in funding for formerly homeless people, including families with children, older adults and people with health conditions or disabilities. To fund more temporary programs, it will put at least 97,000 residents of permanent housing at risk of losing their housing, the group estimated.
HUD also announced a proposal to require proof of U.S. citizenship or eligible status for every resident in HUD-funded housing. That could force the end of a longstanding practice of prorating housing assistance for mixed-status immigrant households, Doulis said.
Implemented and planned changes have introduced “turmoil” for state and local governments, she said. “The state does not have the capacity to backfill all federal housing cuts and pick up what was once the federal government’s responsibility.”
Nicholas Spangler is a general assignment reporter and has worked at Newsday since 2010.
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