How We Monitor the City’s Most Vulnerable Homeless

Jennifer Fermino of the New York Daily News describes how Goddard Riverside, as the lead agency for homeless outreach in Manhattan, helps monitor the New Yorkers who are most at risk from the cold.

"Officials keep a list of 291 homeless New Yorkers who are deemed ‘vulnerable’ to extreme weather because they likely won’t come in from the cold," writes Fermino. "That’s close to 10% of the city’s overall street homeless population, which is estimated to be around 3,000."

Fermino, who spent an evening riding along with one of our street outreach teams, also spoke with Associate Director Joe Hallmark about why people choose not to come in from the cold.

"The folks that choose to stay outside are individuals that have a mental health issue, or they have a substance abuse issue that they feel precludes them from going indoors," said Joe Hallmark, with the Goddard Riverside Community Center, a homeless outreach group.

Read the whole story here: Most ‘vulnerable’ 10% of New York’s homeless are being monitored