File #: Int 1153-2023    Version: * Name: Requiring monthly reports on removals of individuals experiencing homelessness and the outcomes for those individuals.
Type: Introduction Status: Committee
Committee: Committee on General Welfare
On agenda: 8/3/2023
Enactment date: Law number:
Title: A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to requiring monthly reports on removals of individuals experiencing homelessness and the outcomes for those individuals
Sponsors: Sandy Nurse, Shahana K. Hanif, Chi A. Ossé, Lincoln Restler, Tiffany Cabán, Diana I. Ayala, Kristin Richardson Jordan, Julie Won, Oswald Feliz, Carmen N. De La Rosa, Nantasha M. Williams, Christopher Marte, Pierina Ana Sanchez, Alexa Avilés, Mercedes Narcisse
Council Member Sponsors: 15
Summary: This bill would require the Commissioner of Social Services to produce two monthly reports, in consultation with the Police Commissioner, the Commissioner of Sanitation, and the Commissioner of Parks and Recreation. The first report would track each time a city agency worked to remove a person experiencing homelessness from a public space, including when the removal was coordinated among multiple agencies and when a person was asked to vacate a public space by a police officer. The second report would track how many individuals were affected by the removal, what housing services they were offered and whether there were any involuntary removals or arrests.
Indexes: Report Required
Attachments: 1. Summary of Int. No. 1153, 2. Int. No. 1153, 3. August 3, 2023 - Stated Meeting Agenda, 4. Hearing Transcript - Stated Meeting 8-3-23

Int. No. 1153

 

By Council Members Nurse, Hanif, Ossé, Restler, Cabán, Ayala, Richardson Jordan, Won, Feliz, De La Rosa, Williams, Marte, Sanchez, Avilés and Narcisse

 

A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to requiring monthly reports on removals of individuals experiencing homelessness and the outcomes for those individuals

 

Be it enacted by the Council as follows:

Section 1. Chapter 1 of title 21 the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 21-152 to read as follows:

§ 21-152 Reports on removals of individuals experiencing homelessness. a. Definitions. For purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:

Agency removal. The term “agency removal” means a removal by or on behalf of any agency or agencies or a removal where an agency representative was present, except that such term does not include a police-directed removal.

Police-directed removal. The term “police-directed removal” means a removal by an employee of the police department without coordination with another agency or entity.

Removal. The term “removal” means an action or directive which results in an individual perceived as experiencing homelessness temporarily or permanently leaving a location, including the clearing of personal property such as a sleeping bag, shelter, tarp, tent, bed, cardboard, metal sheeting, furniture, or other such objects.

Robot. The term “robot” means an artificial object or system that senses, processes and acts, to at least some degree, and is operated either autonomously by computers or by an individual remotely. The term does not include unmanned aerial vehicles.

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

b. No later than 1 month after the effective date of the local law that added this section, and monthly thereafter, the commissioner, in consultation with the police commissioner, the commissioner of sanitation, and the commissioner of parks and recreation, shall submit to the speaker of the council, the public advocate, and the mayor and publish on the department’s website, in a machine readable format, a report on removals. The report shall include a table in which each row references a unique occurrence of a removal. Each such row shall include the following information and any additional information the commissioner deems appropriate, set forth in separate columns:

1. A unique identification number for such removal;

2. Whether the removal was an agency removal or a police-directed removal;

3. The council district where the removal occurred;

4. Whether or not there has been a sweep at that location previously;

5. The source of initiation for the removal, including but not limited to requests by an agency, office, organization, or 311 report;

6. The date and time of the start of the removal;

7. The agencies and divisions within agencies with personnel present for the removal;

8. The non-government entities present for the removal;

9. The number of agency personnel present and total hours spent on the removal by personnel, disaggregated by agency;

10. The number of individuals perceived as experiencing homelessness affected by the removal; and

11. The total cost of the removal, as calculated by the sum of the cost for all agencies present, where the cost for each agency is the average yearly salary of the personnel present divided by the average number of hours personnel work in a year multiplied by the number of personnel present at the removal multiplied by the total hours spent by such personnel at the removal, the average overtime hourly pay of the personnel present multiplied by the number of hours of overtime worked by such personnel at the removal, and the estimated cost of any specialized equipment used at the removal, including unmanned aerial vehicles and robots, as calculated by sum of the total ownership costs and operating costs to the agency for the equipment divided by the average annual hours of equipment usage multiplied by the number of hours used by personnel at the removal.

c. No later than 1 month after the effective date of the local law that added this section, and monthly thereafter, the commissioner shall submit to the speaker of the council, the public advocate, and the mayor and publish on the department’s website, in a machine readable format, a report on the outcomes for individuals experiencing homelessness who were subject to an agency removal or police-directed removal. Such report shall include a table in which each row references a unique occurrence of a removal. Each such row shall include the following information, as well as any additional information the commissioner deems appropriate, set forth in separate columns:

(1) A reference to the unique removal identification number as reported in subdivision b of this section;

(2) The council district where the removal occurred;

(3) The number of individuals affected by the removal;

(4) The number of individuals affected by the removal who were offered housing vouchers;

(5) The number of individuals affected by the removal who were offered housing voucher applications;

(6) The number of individuals affected by the removal who were offered direct permanent housing placements;

(7) The number of individuals affected by the removal who were offered supportive housing;

(8) Any housing services not listed in paragraphs 4 to 7 of this subdivision offered to an individual affected by the removal;

(9) The number of individuals affected by the removal who were detained involuntarily and brought to a hospital for a mental health evaluation, if any; and

(10) The number of individuals affected by the removal who were arrested, if any.

d. The reports required by subdivisions b and c of this section shall include a data dictionary.

e. Except as otherwise expressly provided in this section, no report required by subdivision b or c of this section shall contain personally identifiable information.

f. 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.

§ 2. This local law takes effect 60 days after it becomes law.

 

 

JGP

LS #10447/10499

7/27/23 1:45 PM