BILL NUMBER: S1460

SPONSOR: SANDERS
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in
relation to homeless shelters for adults

 
PURPOSE:

The purpose of this bill is to prohibit any shelter for single adults to
be located within five hundred feet of any school, including, but not
limited to any public school in any city with a population of one
million or more.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

This bill amends Section 21-312 of the administrative code of the city
of New York by adding a new subdivision f. The bill will prohibit any
shelter for single adults to be located within five hundred feet of any
school, including, but not limited to any public school in any city with
              

a population of one million or more.

 
EXISTING LAW:

This is a new law.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

In recent years there has been an extraordinary increase in the number
of New Yorkers living in homeless shelters and the impact of this grow-
ing shelter population has been particularly acute in New York City
where a shelter census conducted dated January 31, 2010 showed a record
number of 39,256 people living in municipal shelters. It is essential
for New York's public policies to treat shelter residents with
compassion and to appropriately meet their need for housing but many
concerns have been raised about the process used to locate shelters and
the use of inappropriate sites as shelter locations.

For many concerned community residents, the prospect of a homeless shel-
ter for single adults being located immediately adjacent to a public
school raises serious concerns about the potential impact upon the safe-
ty and wellbeing of the vulnerable children who attend the school: This
is of particular concern in light of the lack of information currently
available regarding the criminal and/or mental health history of shelter
residents in New York's largest municipality.

In the west Bronx, as in other parts of New York City, the lack of a
reasonable limit on the proximity of single adult shelters to schools
has led to community protests and increased opposition to homeless shel-
ters in general. By establishing a reasonable statutory standard, this
legislation protects the interests of the community residents and less-
ens the opposition to homeless shelters.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

01/22/16 Referred to Cities

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None

 
LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.