Objective

To determine whether the New York City Department of Homeless Services is effectively placing clients into shelters or facilities that have the necessary services and supervision. The audit covered the period from January 2018 through January 2022.

About the Program

The Department of Homeless Services (DHS), an administrative unit of the New York City Department of Social Services (DSS), is the primary agency responsible for providing transitional housing and services for eligible homeless families and individuals in the City and for providing fiscal oversight of the homeless shelters. Governed by a “right to shelter” mandate, the City provides temporary emergency shelter to every eligible person who requests services. When a single adult arrives at an intake/assessment shelter, staff work to identify the individual’s needs and the type of shelter that would best facilitate their transition to more permanent housing. During the intake/assessment process, clinical providers conduct a comprehensive medical examination and obtain demographic information by interviewing clients. This is followed by a standardized mental health and substance abuse screening (psychosocial assessment), which should be conducted within 48 hours of the client’s arrival, as well as a comprehensive psychiatric behavioral health assessment, as needed. The screening results are entered into DHS’ electronic case management system, Client Assistance and Rehousing Enterprise System (CARES), by the assigned caseworker. At the end of the process, the caseworker recommends the type of shelter in which the client should be placed, a case manager confirms the appropriateness of the proposed shelter assignment, and the client is generally placed into a general or specialized homeless shelter within 21 days of their initial assessment.

Specialized homeless shelters include mental health, substance abuse, employment, and elderly population shelters. On average, DHS provided emergency shelter to 18,000 single adults daily for City fiscal year 2021.

Following placement into a shelter, clients are asked to attend several individual meetings to discuss the reasons why they need shelter and determine the services from which they would benefit. With the assistance of their caseworker, each client will develop an Independent Living Plan (ILP) – a document that outlines specific and relevant goals to exit shelter and return to self-sufficiency, including applying for benefits, completing assessments, and applying for housing programs.

Key Findings

• Based on DHS records, there is limited assurance that clients were being placed in and/or transferred to shelter that could best provide the services necessary to help the individual move forward to permanent housing, independent living, or further treatment in a more appropriate setting if necessary. For instance:
  • 795 of 3,022 clients (26%) who were diagnosed with a serious mental illness were not placed in a mental illness shelter.
  • 523 of 1,061 clients (49%) who were diagnosed with substance or alcohol abuse issues were not placed in a substance abuse or mental health shelter.
• DHS does not have adequate policies and procedures standardizing placement of clients in specialized shelters based on assessment results, diagnoses, and other factors.
• DHS does not fully utilize available client data, such as diagnoses, shelter incidents, non-compliance with ILPs, and other related factors, to help identify potential clients who may cause harm to themselves or others to determine whether any subsequent action is required.
• DHS does not keep track of the total population of homeless individuals who are not complying with their ILP’s recommended services, medication referrals, and mental health and substance abuse assessments.

Key Recommendations

• Create, maintain, and implement DHS-specific standard operating procedures for client assessment and shelter placement to ensure homeless individuals are diagnosed, placed in, and/or transferred to the most suitable program shelter.
• Review clients with serious mental health and/or substance abuse issues and consider transferring them into the respective specialized shelter, as warranted.
• Analyze the individual client data available to DHS, such as diagnoses, shelter incidents, ILP non-compliance, and other related factors, to help identify clients who potentially may cause harm to themselves or others.
• Consider what actions to take for those clients who may cause danger to themselves or others and are likely to substantially interfere with the health, safety, welfare, care, or comfort of other residents.