Int. No. 152

By Council Members Levin, Brannan, Gibson and Ayala

A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to requiring the department of homeless services to report on families with children in shelter.

Be it enacted by the Council as follows:

Section 1. Chapter 3 of title 21 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 21-321 to read as follows:

§ 21-321 Reporting on homeless families with children in shelter. a. Definitions. For the purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:

 Families with children. The term "families with children" means families comprised of adults and children under the age of 21, a single pregnant woman, or families including at least one pregnant woman.

Cluster site. The term “cluster site” means individual apartments within private buildings or a group of private buildings in geographic proximity to each other, under the operation of a social services provider, and used by the department to shelter families with children.

Child care assistance voucher. The term “child care assistance voucher” means a subsidy provided by the administration for children’s services to eligible low income families to help them pay for child care.

DYCD. The term “DYCD” means the department of youth and community development.

DYCD-administered crisis shelters. The term “DYCD-administered crisis shelters” means city-administered facilities that provide short term emergency housing for runaway and homeless youth and are managed by a provider under contract or similar agreement with DYCD.

Early Learn. The term “early learn” means affordable to no cost child care provided for eligible families, serving children from 6-weeks-old through 4-years-old. 

Head Start. The term “head start” means federally funded affordable to no cost child care focused on providing free child development activities and educational programs in the community for eligible families.

Hotel. The term “hotel” means a building that historically operated as a hotel prior to its use as shelter and is currently used by the department as shelter or a building that continues to operate as a commercial hotel and also provides a number of units to the department to shelter residents.

Domestic violence shelter. The term “domestic violence shelter” means shelter directly managed by the department of social services or by a provider under contract or similar agreement with the department of social services, which provides temporary housing and supportive services to families with children who are victims of domestic violence.

HASA shelter. The term “HASA shelter” means congregate facilities managed by a provider under contract or similar agreement with the department of social services to provide emergency shelter for recipients of services from the HIV/AIDS administration.

Individualized education program (IEP). The term “individualized education program (IEP)” means a written statement, developed, reviewed and revised in accordance with section 200.4 of title 8 of the New York codes, rules, and regulations, provided to meet the unique educational needs of a student with a disability.

Prevention Assistance and Temporary Housing (PATH). The term “prevention assistance and temporary housing (PATH)” means the intake facility where families with children must apply for shelter.

Preventative services. The term “preventative services” means services provided to families by the administration for children services that are designed to help families keep their children safely at home.

Shelter. The term “shelter” means a building, or individual units within a building, being utilized by the department or a provider under contract or similar agreement with the department to provide temporary emergency housing.

Tier II facility. The term “tier II facility” means a shelter facility subject to the provisions of part 900 of  title 18 of the New York codes, rules, and regulations which provides shelter and services to 10 or more homeless families including, at a minimum, private rooms, access to three nutritional meals a day, supervision, assessment services, permanent housing preparation services, recreational services, information and referral services, health services, and child-care services.

b. Not later than July 1, 2018, and monthly thereafter, the department shall submit to the speaker of the council and post online a report regarding information on homeless families in shelter. Such report shall include, but is not limited to, the following information:

1. The total number of homeless families currently living in shelter disaggregated by shelter placement including but not limited to: (a) tier II facility; (b) domestic violence shelter; (c) HASA shelter; (d) DYCD-administered crisis shelter; (e) cluster site; and (f) hotels.

2. The total number of families with children who are new entries to the shelter system disaggregated by the total number of applications submitted prior to being found eligible.

3. The average length of stay for families with children in shelter.

4. The total number of families with children leaving shelter to permanent housing disaggregated by shelter placement including: (a) tier II facility; (b) domestic violence shelter; (c) HASA shelter; (d) DYCD-administered crisis shelter; (e) cluster site; and (f) hotels.

5. The percentage of families with children living in shelter in the same zip code where the family receives community based preventative services.

6. The percentage of families with children living in shelter in the same zip code as the head-of-household’s job.

7. The percentage of families with children placed in the school district where their youngest child attends school.

8. The percentage of families with children placed in the district where a child has an IEP.

9. The school transfer rate for children living in shelter.

10. The average school attendance rate for children in shelter.

11. The average number of days from PATH intake to a child’s enrollment in a new school.

12. The average number of school days missed after PATH intake, before a child’s return to their school of origin.

13. The average number of days from entry into a domestic violence shelter until a child is enrolled in a new school.

14. The average number of days from entry into the shelter system until school transportation is arranged for a child.

15. The number of children, ages 0-3, in child care, disaggregated by type including: (a) early learn; (b) head start; and (c) child care assistance voucher.

16. The number of children in the shelter system enrolled in pre-kindergarten,

17. The number of children, ages 0-3, in the shelter system screened for early intervention disaggregated by (a) number found eligible; and (b) number receiving services.

c.  No information that is otherwise required to be reported pursuant to this section shall be reported in a manner that would violate any applicable provision of federal, state or local law relating to the privacy of information relating to the privacy of student information or that would interfere with law enforcement investigations or otherwise conflict with the interests of law enforcement. If any category requested contains between 1 and 5 youth in foster care, or allows another category to be narrowed to between 1 and 5 students, the number shall be replaced with a symbol.

§ 2. This local law takes effect immediately.

AV/SW/ACK

LS #4402

1/10/2018 4:59pm