Real Estate
Homelessness in
Western Queens
BY ANGELA MATUA
AMATUA@QNS.COM
The Citizens’ Committee for Children
(CCC), a nonprofit that tracks homelessness
in New York, found that pockets of western
Queens have seen an increase in the number
of families from 2013 through 2015.
In the report, titled “Keeping Track of
Homeless Families,” the CCC examined
trends in four boroughs and track areas
where homelessness has always been
an issue and where the phenomenon is
fairly new.
The organization analyzed data such
as the number of families with children
entering DHS-administered shelters and
the change in income and rent from 2008
through 2015. It found that the number
of families entering homeless shelters
citywide increased almost 23 percent from
2012 to 2016.
Researchers said that increase may in
part be due to declining family incomes
and rising rents. According to the report,
“no community district in the city has experienced
as great a difference between
declining incomes and rising rents than
Astoria.”
In 2013, 73 families who call Astoria
home entered a homeless shelter. In 2015,
that number jumped to 90 families. During
that three year period, the median income
for families with children decreased 14
percent (from $59,000 to $51,000) while
median rents rose 27 percent.
In Sunnyside and Woodside, where only
13 families entered a homeless shelter in
2013, that number more than doubled in
2015 to 30 families.
Neighborhoods such as Jackson
Heights, Corona and Elmhurst are suffering
from rental overcrowding, which is
defined as more than one person living
in one bedroom. In these neighborhoods,
approximately 25 percent of households
were overcrowded compared to 11 percent
citywide.
The number of households facing extreme
rent burden – paying more than 50
percent of ones income on rent – also increased
in these areas. In Jackson Heights,
the share of households facing extreme rent
burden rose from 29 to 38 percent and in
Elmhurst/Corona that number jumped from
30 to 37 percent of households.
CCC argues that since the area has
not experienced family homelessness in
18 SEPTEMBER 2017 I LIC COURIER I www.qns.com
large numbers before, it does not include
many homeless prevention services. The
closest HomeBase site, a city program to
help low-income New Yorkers stay in their
home, is located in Jamaica. The only other
site is located in Far Rockaway.
In June 2017, the CCC along with New
Destiny Housing and Enterprise Community
Partners released a Family Homelessness
Task Force report to address some solutions
to the city’s homelessness problem.
Recommendations included strengthening
rent stabilization laws to prevent families
from becoming homeless, ensuring children
and families have services like childcare,
quality food and transportation while they’re
in shelters and increasing the supply of
permenant affordable housing.
To view the full report, visit the CCC’s
website at www.cccnewyork.org.
Photo courtesy of Shutterstock
A new report found that the number of families entering
homeless shelters in western Queens has increased.
