There is no doubt that there are advantages to working with the resources that New York City employs. The amount of funds available to their Department of Homelessness, would make smaller jurisdictions’ funds dedicated to the same provision of services pale in comparison. Therefore, it is expected to see considerable differences between the provision of services in smaller jurisdictions such as the city of New Rochelle and those of New York City. New York City had a budget of 953 million dollars in 2014. Of this amount, the Department of Investigation has reported that the DHS uses 368,445,009.06 on family shelters. This is approximately 3,684 times the 100,000 dollars the city of New Rochelle (Item 13) has allocated for its provision of homeless services. New York City has a mixed approach to providing homeless resources: through city provided shelters, city funded nonprofits and city rented living spaces in tenement buildings and hotels. New Rochelle addresses homeless prevention by funding 2 nonprofits named HOPE and Oasis.
Despite the differences in the size of the resources of the two cities, it’s ironic that there are instances of mismanagement in the New York City. This was highlighted in a New York City Department of Investigation that exposed serious negligence and health and safety violations. In a sample of 25 shelters, cluster buildings and hotels, 621 violations were issued. This calls for serious concerns considering similar conditions could be expected in the other 120 shelters, 11 cluster buildings and 39 hotels located throughout Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx. The DOI has said that the current conditions are the result of historical mismanagement and negligence on behalf of the city. These problems are expected given the bureaucratic problems associated with large government departments (the DHS employs 2,000). Bureaucratic problems are associated with the red tape that is associated with government operations. Bureaucratic problems could also present themselves in the form of office culture or politics that could deviate decision-makers from acting on official city policy or protocol. In the case of the DHS, this is manifested in the lack of city contracts, city permits and nonenforcement of health and safety standards. Without these documents in place, agreements become vague, and enforcement of responsibilities becomes legally untenable. The legal implications of these contractual and document lapses creates an environment that vilifies government transparency and compounds the likelihood of the deplorable conditions never being addressed. The economic implications of these lapses result in prices for services that do not truly reflect the cost of providing these services.In addition to the problems created by bureaucratic red tape and office politics, another issue related to the nature of the service being provided arises. The DHS requires labor intensive services(as opposed to capital intensive services), as seen in the large number of bureaucrats, social workers, food production employees and other related services employed. Empirically, this is reflected in the fact that $537,354,990.94 of the $905,000,000.000 is not spent on the 145 plus homeless shelters. This leads to labor problems. Labor problems occur as the number of individuals providing services increases. These problems arise because it becomes increasingly difficult to manage a large number of people. As it becomes difficult to manage employees, effectiveness is reduced and department funds are wasted, resulting in inaccurate expenditures much higher than the real cost of delivering homeless services.Inaccurate, higher prices are found in labor-intensive services and in bureaucratic red tape are conditions commonly found in diseconomies of scale.
Diseconomies of scale is an economic state where the production and selling more of the same goods or services results in higher per unit costs. Diseconomies of scale commonly exhibit labor problems and bureaucratic problems like the ones seen above. As displayed in the graph diseconomies occur after firm or jurisdiction providing a good or service has seen an economy of scale. This regression is caused by conditions associated with human behavior. Diseconomies of scale are more present in labor intensive services more than capital intensive services because humans cannot be mass managed with the same effectiveness that mindless machines can be managed.. Combine the problems associated with managing large numbers of employees with the bureaucratic red tape and office culture problems and what results is a seriously mismanaged department. Not only does mismanagement mean that tax dollars are wasted, it also means that human lives are subjected to deplorable conditions. Homeless services are charged with preventing homeless services in the city, but given the chronic rodent and vermin infestations, the rotting buildings, and the generally disgusting conditions of the shelters, more homeless people will opt for the more hygienic and safer alternatives to staying in the shelters, such as staying in subways, or in more public spaces. This problem should be expected to grow considering the warming temperatures that may have forced these people into staying in the shelters out of fear of dying in the cold weather. I reiterate the sense of urgency that the DOI expressed when they said that the DHS needs to implement a long-term and short-term plan to ensure that the nearly 1 billion dollar service is used to the fullest extent possible. Otherwise, these problems will become more expensive to resolve, especially as building conditions deteriorate and become more expensive to repair and more legal services are required in order to draw up contracts.
The conditions expressed in New York City's Department of Internal Investigation's Report regarding the provision of homeless services are disturbing to say the least. The conditions of chronic mismanagement and gross neglect that are occurring with New Rochelle’s municipal neighbors down south have raised serious concerns within New Rochelle regarding the way HOPE and OASIS manage their shelters. These concerns come out of a sense of prudence, and not suspicion. Given the goals outlined by the city council of New Rochelle, the city aims to reduce and prevent homelessness through the provision of funds donated to nonprofit organizations such as OASIS and HOPE. Under item thirteen of the city council meeting in during the summer of 2014, New Rochelle has agreed to enter into a $100,000 contract with both organizations, given that they provide the agreed upon services: OASIS and HOPE are to prevent and reduce homelessness in New Rochelle through the provision of case management to homeless clients in order to ensure the acquisition of permanent housing and employment, especially among the veteran homeless population in the city. OASIS and HOPE have also agreed to extend their daytime hours of operation in order to promote a more pleasant business environment in the downtown area. The daytime operation hours initiative is also aimed at giving the homeless people of the city more opportunities to build skills-based development, job search, and an environment where there is readily access to social workers, drug rehabilitation workers and mental health therapists who are experts in dealing with homeless individuals. In addition to the aforementioned responsibilities, HOPE has agreed to providing quarterly meetings to link homeless clients of their center with resources available to them in Westchester County. HOPE has also agreed to working closely with the Westchester County Social Services department in order to promote homeless engagement in their specific cases. These conditions were set following the Citizens to be Heard meeting that took place where members of the homeless community addressed concerns regarding the poor conditions at OASIS’ center and the inept quality of the services by their social workers. For these reasons, we wish to see OASIS respond to the criticisms by outlining the specific allegations and responses to said allegations. We then ask OASIS and HOPE to give us 6-month reports and 10 month reports outlining quantitative improvements in the number of homeless people who have found permanent housing and how the monies given are being used. We also ask that the Commissioner of Housing in New Rochelle work closely with the Fire Department and the Department of Buildings to conduct inspections in the buildings where these individuals are house. We seek to foster an environment that draws in the local New Rochelle homeless population in order to provide these individuals with the assistance they require. Given the recent article published on the New Rochelle Voice, the city council remains optimistic that they have acted in an according manner in order to reduce the chronic homelessness in the city. Should the 10 month and one year reports prove that the HOPE/OASIS initiative have made reasonable strides (as it is led to believe in the New Rochelle Voice’s article), this city council will renew its relationship with HOPE and OASIS. Should the reports not show extraordinary process, we owe it to the individuals who suffer from homelessness and to the business owners who suffer a loss of profits and from the unattractive business environment to discontinue our relationships with these organizations and seek other nonprofits that may provide new, fresh perspectives and strategies on dealing with this serious issue.
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