Amsterdam News: What is NYC’s Housing for Health Initiative and whom does it serve? New approaches to homelessness gain ground
New York City’s housing crisis has been undeniable for decades. It drives gentrification and displacement in historically Black and Brown neighborhoods, and forces homeowners and tenants to leave the city while others end up on the streets or in shelters. The latest uptick in the city’s homeless population growth from 2022 to 2024 is attributed to increases in eviction proceedings after the COVID pandemic, a shortage of affordable housing, increased rents, and the previous influx of asylum seekers, according to a 2025 New York State Comptroller’s report.
NYC Health + Hospitals (H+H), which runs the city’s safety net hospitals and clinics, has a Housing for Health initiative focused on developing supportive housing on underused hospital land specifically for the city’s homeless individuals, many of whom are Black and Latino. Across the state, people experiencing homelessness last year also fell disproportionately into those racial and ethnic categories, with approximately 10% suffering from severe mental illness or chronic substance abuse, said the state comptroller’s report.