A History of New York City’s Response to Homelessness

George Nashak will provide a historic overview of NYC’s response to homelessness, starting with interventions sponsored by faith-based organizations, which grew over the course of a century into a $2.5 billion professionalized system of homeless services. He will focus on how governmental policy decisions precipitated the growth of mass homelessness in NYC, the role of litigation and advocacy, interventions that NYC has introduced to address homelessness, and the current status of the homeless services system.