FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 28, 2016
Contact: Lauren Gray (lgray@dhs.nyc.gov, 917-790-3890)
LATEST SHELTER REPAIR SCORECARD SHOWS THAT OPEN VIOLATIONS CONTINUE TO DECREASE WITHIN HOMELESS SHELTERS
City aggressively inspecting and repairing homeless shelters
NEW YORK—The City announced today that its Shelter Repair Squad, in partnership with shelter providers, have cut outstanding building code violations by 83% within traditional shelters since the end of January 2016.
The Shelter Repair Scorecard lists conditions at all homeless shelters in New York City that do not meet applicable regulations, and makes it possible to track progress in resolving them. An analysis of the remaining open non-cluster violations indicates that more than 80 percent will require significant repairs or capital work, which will take substantially longer to complete.
Cluster shelters are groups of individual apartments in larger buildings, and the violation total includes all the violations in each building, not those solely relating to the cluster units. The administration has announced a plan to phase out the use of cluster shelters, where the majority of the violations are found. As the City ends the use of cluster shelters, returning them to the market so that the apartments can serve as low-rent housing, it will insist that building owners bring their buildings up to code and will work to ensure that they remain part of the City’s rent-regulated stock or enter an affordability program.
The scorecard can be accessed here.
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