Former Council Speaker Quinn Wants To Fix City’s Shelters

On any given night in New York City, nearly 23,00 children will lay their heads down in a homeless shelter. That’s more than a full-house at Madison Square Garden and more than two-thirds of the city’s total shelter population. (According to the most recent data available, the city’s total shelter population is about 59,000.)

“I think most New Yorkers [don’t know] — and I didn’t until I got this job — that 20 percent of the people in shelter in NYC right now are under 5 years of ago,” said Quinn, the former New York City Council Speaker. “The entire debate the city is having which is largely driven by the covers of tabloids, is about single individuals, mostly men, mostly men with mental health challenges who have chosen to live on corners.”

Quinn earlier this month authored an op-ed in the New York Times on how to address the problem. In this “Chasing the Dream” segment, Quinn shared some of her ideas with MetroFocus Host Jack Ford.

Weigh In: How can the city improve its services for the homeless?

Chasing the Dream: Poverty and Opportunity in America is a multi-platform public media initiative that provides a deeper understanding of the impact of poverty on American society. Major funding for this initiative is provided by The JPB Foundation. Additional funding is provided by Ford Foundation.