Reimagining Street Homeless Outreach

Reduce bureaucratic barriers and focus on human-centered outreach

Where we are

The current DHS policies enforced by homeless outreach teams have created bureaucratic barriers to engaging and housing unsheltered New Yorkers. The current process of obtaining services, including housing, through outreach teams is marred with waiting periods and eligibility requirements,often resulting in negative interactions and damaged relationships between outreach workers and unsheltered New Yorkers. One common barrier to accessing services that is frequently cited by unsheltered New Yorkers is the ‘street homeless verification’ process that requires individuals experiencing homelessness to be engaged by outreach teams multiple times before being eligible for case management services. In addition, ‘chronicity requirements’ imposed by the city mandate unsheltered individuals have documented homeless histories of at least nine months prior to becoming eligible for lower-threshold transitional housing options such as safe havens. Both of these processes are often poorly explained, if at all, to homeless New Yorkers.

Where we want to be

Rather than continue with these policies, elected officials should push for the development of human-centered outreach protocols which aim to effectively engage with unsheltered New Yorkers and provide housing and case management options as quickly as possible. This includes reducing or eliminating ‘street homeless verification’ processes and eliminating or reducing the aforementioned ‘chronicity requirements’. Any individual who expresses interest in receiving case management from an outreach worker should be assigned one; there should be no waiting period or eligibility requirements for this service. To ensure everyone who wants a case manager can get one, elected officials should provide outreach teams with the financial capacity and additional resources to hire enough qualified and experienced case managers such that they can be made available to those who want them. Increased ease of access to case managers can assist in developing trusting relationships between outreach workers and homeless New Yorkers, and are essential in beginning the process of obtaining permanent housing. Further, the process should be clearly explained to people on the streets upon each engagement so they can weigh their options. Meanwhile, homeless New Yorkers have suggested that outreach teams wear brighter, more cheerful and less threatening uniforms.

Empower outreach teams to meet basic needs

Where we are

Outreach teams have long operated under a model which focuses on placing people into shelters, transitional housing, and permanent housing, treating those who sleep on subways and sidewalks as if their choice to opt out of the shelter system is based on an irrational love for the streets instead of a rational reason, including a reasonable fear of the shelters. This backwards thinking leads some to conclude that offering individuals emergency supplies like food, water, socks, feminine hygiene supplies, blankets, and more will only enable them to stay homeless longer instead of simply empowering them to survive. The truth is that just because someone chooses not to go into shelter doesn’t mean they aren’t willing to accept help. The issue is the help that is being offered, not the person who is turning it down. It’s also true that there simply isn’t enough affordable and supportive housing to quickly bring everyone who is sleeping outdoors inside. Currently, through an approach with the motto “a hand up, not a hand out,” people can only access said basic needs items upon agreeing to come inside. This approach sends the wrong message to homeless New Yorkers, and can often indicate that outreach teams cannot help them.

Where we want to be

Elected officials should advocate for outreach teams to meet homeless New Yorkers’ basic needs, rather than the current “hand up, not a hand out” approach encouraged by the Department of Homeless Services. Instead of simply engaging them with empty words or elusive timeframes, outreach teams can meet immediate needs that will establish trust and build relationships while they wait for the next available option to present itself. This includes providing tangible items that meet “felt needs” like food, coffee, water, socks, blankets, and hygiene supplies. Contrary to popular opinion, instead of enabling a person to remain homeless longer, this compassionate approach would create deeper connections that can only help to improve ongoing care coordination efforts and expedite housing placements. Additionally, outreach teams should have access to single hotel rooms or other similar spaces to place individuals for whom shared or congregate spaces are not an option. In addition, elected officials should support funding the development of "Homeless Outreach Community Centers" relevant to maintaining the health and safety of unsheltered New Yorkers including bathroom and shower programs. These centers should include access to the Internet. Similar programs exist, but are typically privately run rather than City-funded through outreach teams. Meeting basic needs in the process of outreach will provide opportunities to build relational credibility and to offer options, leading to increased trust, engagement, and both transitional and permanent housing placements of unsheltered New Yorkers.

Hire formerly homeless “peer” outreach workers

Where we are

Many outreach workers do not have lived experiences of homelessness. However, standard social service policies usually dictate that employees share little about their own experiences and personal lives under the guise of professionalism and ‘boundaries’, so even the few workers who may be able to connect with individuals on a personal level are not given the opportunity. We have heard repeatedly from unsheltered New Yorkers that they feel like outreach workers do not understand what they are going through, which makes it harder for them to trust and build rapport with them. An individual’s relationship (positive or negative) with outreach workers is directly related to their willingness or interest to engage with them and, in our current system, this engagement is necessary to move forward in obtaining housing; individuals who choose not to engage with outreach teams lose out on pathways to housing only accessible through outreach programs.

Where we want to be

Elected officials should proactively advocate for an additional homeless outreach budget line item to enable DHS-contracted homeless outreach teams to hire formerly homeless New Yorkers as outreach workers. This model has been successful in increasing housing placements for those experiencing homelessness in Philadelphia through an organization called Mental Health Partnerships, and has been used more commonly in criminal justice projects. These outreach workers, hired for both their lived experience and emotional intelligence, known as “peers,” would in turn serve as “credible messengers,” and focus on building relationships with clients who had previously shown hesitancy in working with homeless outreach teams. They would be trained by Licensed Social Workers prior to beginning their outreach, and they would be equipped with basic needs items to distribute to their peers. In New York City, peers are currently a part of intensive mobile treatment teams; creating roles for “peers” on outreach teams would provide an additional resource in engaging individuals and connecting them with safe, appropriate, accessible transitional and permanent housing options.