On an average night in January 2015, 564,708 people were homeless in the United States and of those individuals, 83,170 or about 15% were considered chronically homeless (HUD, 2015 ). What is Chronic Homelessness? HUD defines a chronically homeless individual as someone who has been homeless for an extended period of time and is simultaneously dealing with a disability, mental health problems and/or sub- stance abuse/dependency. To combat chronic homelessness, a variety of interventions have been made by cities around the United States with the help of federal funding. One increasingly important strategy has been the creation of safe havens. What are Safe Havens? Safe Havens are a type of temporary housing with limited rules and regulations made available to chronically homeless adults. Safe Havens offer supportive services, either directly or by referral, such as case management, mental health services and substance abuse services with the goal of assisting the client in finding permanent housing. As opposed to other housing programs, individuals are not required to be sober upon entry or during their stay. Individuals are typically referred to safe havens by homeless street outreach teams. This project focuses specifically on the safe havens in New York City. There are currently eleven safe havens in NYC with around 550 beds total and Mayor Bill DeBlasio plans to add 500 more safe ha- ven beds throughout the city. This GIS analysis begins to answer the question, “Where are safe ha- vens located?” by assessing their accessibility to public transportation and related supportive ser- vices as well as the rent prices in the surrounding area. As more safe havens are being developed in New York City and throughout the United States, it is necessary to examine their location to deter- mine both if they are meeting their mission of housing chronically homeless individuals as well as if there are any factors that are leading to locational biases. A list of the safe havens in New York City was derived from a comprehensive, Department of Home- less Services (DHS) list of all homeless housing facilities in NYC. The safe haven’s addresses were then geocoded and joined to the 2016 Tiger/Line Shapefile at the census tract level. Queens was ex- cluded from the analysis as no safe havens are located there, but all other boroughs, Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Staten Island were included. American Community Survey data was download- ed for census tract demographics. Data pertaining to supportive services and facilities in NYC was obtained from the NYC Department of Planning Open Data resource. The location of MTA subway entrances and exits were obtained through the MTA website and then geocoded. The factors being analyzed were framed by the 1997 HUD Safe Haven Toolkit which describes necessary traits as well challenges for safe haven siting. Once the safe havens were geocoded, a half mile buffer was created around each of them. Spatial joins were then performed between the buffer and each type of related supportive service. These spatial joins resulted in the total number of related services that are relatively accessible, within half of a mile, of each safe haven. Additionally, to understand the proximity of the safe havens to subway stops, I first counted the number of stops that were within a quarter mile buff- er of the safe havens. In order to better visualize this information, a kernel den- sity analysis was conducted to find out if the safe havens were located in places with a high density of subway entrances and exits. All of the safe havens in this analysis, with the exception of the Carpenter House Safe Haven in Staten Island, are with a ¼ mile of a subway entrance or exit. As shown in the Median Gross Rent by Census Tract map, all of the safe havens with the exception of the Traveler’s Safe Haven in Manhattan, are lo- cated in census tracts in which the median gross rent is in the lower three categories indicated in the maps legend. In terms of accessibility to related supportive services, the graphs below illustrate that the overwhelming majority of the safe havens are located within a ½ mile of services. The greatest gap in accessible services seem to be at the Urban Pathways Safe Haven in Brooklyn and the Carpen- ter House Safe Haven in Staten Island. As illustrated in this analysis, the majority of the safe havens studied are located within a ½ mile of related supportive services. While this means that supportive services are relatively close by, this analysis only looks at distance and does not take into account other barriers that may make these fa- cilities difficult to access for individuals with disabilities. The scope of this analysis was also some- what limited due to the information available. More specifically, it would have been beneficial to know the number of chronically homeless people by borough to gain a better understanding as to whether that has to do with the clustering of safe havens in certain areas. Additionally, while this analysis took into account a few of the important characteristics for siting safe havens, there are many more factors that go into that decision making process. Further research needs to be done to assess factors such as NIMBYism, the racial composition of neighborhoods with safe havens and how buildings were financed and acquired. 5-year ACS Dataset : SE _T104_001, Social Explorer. 2014. Tiger/Line Shapefiles –Census Tracts. 2016. NYC Planning Open Data-City Facilities-Selected Facilities & Program Sites. 2016. Subway Entrance and Exit Data. hp://web.mta.info/developers/developer-data-terms.html#data . 2016. United States. Department of Housing and Urban Affairs. “Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing: Defining ‘Chronically Homeless.’” (2015). https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/Defining-Chronically-Homeless-Final-Rule.pdf United States. Department of Housing and Urban Affairs. “The 2015 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress. (2015). (https:// www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/2015-AHAR-Part-1.pdf United States. Department of Housing and Urban Affairs “The Safe Haven Toolkit.” (1997). https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/SafeHavens.pdf New York City. Department of Homeless Services. “Shelter Repair Scorecard.” (2016). https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/operations/downloads/pdf/ Shelter-Repair-Scorecard-Archive/scorecard-summary-2016-sep-list.pdf PROJECTION: NAD_1983_StatePlane_New_York_Long_Island_FIPS_3104_Feet # Safe Haven Name 1 BronxWorks Pyramid Safe Haven 2 BronxWorks Safe Haven 3 Comunilife Safe Haven I 4 Comunilife Safe Haven II 5 VOA Safe Haven 6 BRC Safe Haven (Bowery) 7 BRC Safe Haven (182 nd Street) 8 The Andrews 9 Traveler’s Safe Haven 10 Urban Pathways Safe Haven 11 Carpenter House Safe Haven Brooke Schwartz Assessing Safe Haven Locations: A Case Study of New York City UEP 232– Intro to GIS December 19, 2016 INTRODUCTION METHODS RESULTS DISCUSSION AND LIMITATIONS RESOURCES LEGEND The Bronx Manhaan Brooklyn Staten Island IMAGE 1: The Andrews Safe Haven (center right) 197 Bowery New York, NY IMAGE 2: The Andrews Safe Haven Example Interior of one of the 80 Safe Haven Units Density of Subway Entrances/Exits High Low
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On an average night in January 2015, 564,708 people were homeless in the United States and of
those individuals, 83,170 or about 15% were considered chronically homeless (HUD, 2015 ).
What is Chronic Homelessness?
HUD defines a chronically homeless individual as someone who has been homeless for an extended
period of time and is simultaneously dealing with a disability, mental health problems and/or sub-
stance abuse/dependency.
To combat chronic homelessness, a variety of interventions have been made by cities around the
United States with the help of federal funding. One increasingly important strategy has been the
creation of safe havens.
What are Safe Havens?
Safe Havens are a type of temporary housing with limited rules and regulations made available to
chronically homeless adults. Safe Havens offer supportive services, either directly or by referral, such
as case management, mental health services and substance abuse services with the goal of assisting
the client in finding permanent housing. As opposed to other housing programs, individuals are not
required to be sober upon entry or during their stay. Individuals are typically referred to safe havens
by homeless street outreach teams.
This project focuses specifically on the safe havens in New York City. There are currently eleven safe
havens in NYC with around 550 beds total and Mayor Bill DeBlasio plans to add 500 more safe ha-
ven beds throughout the city. This GIS analysis begins to answer the question, “Where are safe ha-
vens located?” by assessing their accessibility to public transportation and related supportive ser-
vices as well as the rent prices in the surrounding area. As more safe havens are being developed in
New York City and throughout the United States, it is necessary to examine their location to deter-
mine both if they are meeting their mission of housing chronically homeless individuals as well as if
there are any factors that are leading to locational biases.
A list of the safe havens in New York City was derived from a comprehensive, Department of Home-
less Services (DHS) list of all homeless housing facilities in NYC. The safe haven’s addresses were
then geocoded and joined to the 2016 Tiger/Line Shapefile at the census tract level. Queens was ex-
cluded from the analysis as no safe havens are located there, but all other boroughs, Manhattan, the
Bronx, Brooklyn and Staten Island were included. American Community Survey data was download-
ed for census tract demographics. Data pertaining to supportive services and facilities in NYC was
obtained from the NYC Department of Planning Open Data resource. The location of MTA subway
entrances and exits were obtained through the MTA website and then geocoded. The factors being
analyzed were framed by the 1997 HUD Safe Haven Toolkit which describes necessary traits as well
challenges for safe haven siting.
Once the safe havens were geocoded, a half mile buffer was created around each of them. Spatial
joins were then performed between the buffer and each type of related supportive service. These
spatial joins resulted in the total number of related services that are relatively accessible, within half
of a mile, of each safe haven. Additionally, to understand the proximity of the safe havens to subway
stops, I first counted the number of stops that were within a quarter mile buff-
er of the safe havens. In order to better visualize this information, a kernel den-
sity analysis was conducted to find out if the safe havens were located in places
with a high density of subway entrances and exits.
All of the safe havens in this analysis, with the exception of the Carpenter House Safe Haven in Staten
Island, are with a ¼ mile of a subway entrance or exit. As shown in the Median Gross Rent by Census
Tract map, all of the safe havens with the exception of the Traveler’s Safe Haven in Manhattan, are lo-
cated in census tracts in which the median gross rent is in the lower three categories indicated in the
maps legend. In terms of accessibility to related supportive services, the graphs below illustrate that
the overwhelming majority of the safe havens are located within a ½ mile of services. The greatest
gap in accessible services seem to be at the Urban Pathways Safe Haven in Brooklyn and the Carpen-
ter House Safe Haven in Staten Island.
As illustrated in this analysis, the majority of the safe havens studied are located within a ½ mile of
related supportive services. While this means that supportive services are relatively close by, this
analysis only looks at distance and does not take into account other barriers that may make these fa-
cilities difficult to access for individuals with disabilities. The scope of this analysis was also some-
what limited due to the information available. More specifically, it would have been beneficial to
know the number of chronically homeless people by borough to gain a better understanding as to
whether that has to do with the clustering of safe havens in certain areas.
Additionally, while this analysis took into account a few of the important characteristics for siting
safe havens, there are many more factors that go into that decision making process. Further research
needs to be done to assess factors such as NIMBYism, the racial composition of neighborhoods with
safe havens and how buildings were financed and acquired.
5-year ACS Dataset : SE _T104_001, Social Explorer. 2014.
Tiger/Line Shapefiles –Census Tracts. 2016.
NYC Planning Open Data-City Facilities-Selected Facilities & Program Sites. 2016.
Subway Entrance and Exit Data. http://web.mta.info/developers/developer-data-terms.html#data . 2016.
United States. Department of Housing and Urban Affairs. “Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing: Defining ‘Chronically
Homeless.’” (2015). https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/Defining-Chronically-Homeless-Final-Rule.pdf
United States. Department of Housing and Urban Affairs. “The 2015 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress. (2015). (https://
www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/2015-AHAR-Part-1.pdf
United States. Department of Housing and Urban Affairs “The Safe Haven Toolkit.” (1997).
https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/SafeHavens.pdf
New York City. Department of Homeless Services. “Shelter Repair Scorecard.” (2016). https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/operations/downloads/pdf/
Shelter-Repair-Scorecard-Archive/scorecard-summary-2016-sep-list.pdf
PROJECTION: NAD_1983_StatePlane_New_York_Long_Island_FIPS_3104_Feet
# Safe Haven Name
1 BronxWorks Pyramid Safe Haven
2 BronxWorks Safe Haven
3 Comunilife Safe Haven I
4 Comunilife Safe Haven II
5 VOA Safe Haven
6 BRC Safe Haven (Bowery)
7 BRC Safe Haven (182nd Street)
8 The Andrews
9 Traveler’s Safe Haven
10 Urban Pathways Safe Haven
11 Carpenter House Safe Haven
Brooke Schwartz
Assessing Safe Haven Locations: A Case Study of New York City UEP 232– Intro to GIS
December 19, 2016
INTRODUCTION
METHODS
RESULTS
DISCUSSION AND LIMITATIONS
RESOURCES
LEGEND
The Bronx
Manhattan
Brooklyn
Staten Island
IMAGE 1: The Andrews Safe Haven (center right)
197 Bowery New York, NY
IMAGE 2: The Andrews Safe Haven
Example Interior of one of the 80 Safe Haven Units
Density of Subway Entrances/Exits
High
Low
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