On the road home
‘Swarm teams’ try to get street people into shelters
THE CITY’S NEW Rockaway ferry took its maiden voyage Sunday, a day ahead of launching service to the public.
Mayor de Blasio led the ceremonial trip from the Beach 108th St. landing in Queens to lower Manhattan, hailing the first route to open in what will eventually be a citywide ferry network.
“Decades ago, our city make a huge mistake. We turned away from the water . . . We turned to the automobile,” de Blasio said Sunday. “Tomorrow morning a new era begins in New York City. Tomorrow morning we go back to the water.”
The ferry, named Urban Journey by second-graders at a Bronx school, was christened with a bottle of faux champagne and blessed by a local imam.
Hizzoner even took a turn steering the boat, which carried dignitaries, reporters and some of the ferry’s most ardent backers from the Rockaways.
“It’s cool. It’s smooth. It’s super-responsive. I told people it was like driving a Fiat,” de Blasio said.
The first public trip embarks at 5:30 a.m. Monday, and boats will run every hour on the half hour, at a cost of $2.75.
The boats are equipped with Wi-Fi, bathrooms and a snack bar selling $6 beer and rosé as well as items like phone chargers and sunscreen.
Another route, serving Bay Ridge, Sunset Park and Red Hook in Brooklyn, is set to launch June 1, followed by an Astoria, Queens, route in August.
The Rockaways had a temporary ferry after Hurricane Sandy, which residents missed after it was discontinued in 2014.
“This is the biggest investment in Rockaway ever, and that’s a registered Republican telling you that,” said Joe Hartigan, a neighborhood resident and longtime ferry backer. “Transportation has always held us back . . . Word gets out, and then it will just take off.” THE CITY is launching new “swarm teams” to canvass for homeless people living on the street, in an overhaul of a program started a year ago to tackle street homelessness.
The teams will have six workers each who will be deployed for two weeks at a time to hotspots across the five boroughs, where high numbers of homeless people have been spotted.
Mayor de Blasio launched the program, known as Home-Stat, after coming under pressure to deal with increasingly visible street homelessness, sending dozens of canvassers to comb Manhattan from Canal St. to 145th St.
Outreach workers have been trying to convince homeless people to come in off the streets, and have so far helped move 748 people into shelters or housing.
Under the changes, set to be announced Monday, about half the canvassers will stay focused on that area of Manhattan, completing a full canvass once a week instead of every day.
Other workers will be moved to the “swarm teams” to respond to hotspots citywide, handing out information about drop-in centers and food pantries, while others will canvass library branches and hospitals that have a high number of homeless clients, or search city parks.
The city is also launching a study of panhandling, attempting to determine how many people asking for change are actually homeless, and how many have a place to live but are spending time begging on the streets.
“It can take anywhere from one to hundreds of contacts to encourage people living on the street to come inside and accept services,” de Blasio said. “Every person has their own story and path to the streets, which is why our Home-Stat program is so vital for this population. These new elements will help us to further expand our work and goal of transitioning more people off the street and into permanent housing.”
Officials with Home-Stat — which takes its name from the NYPD’s crimefighting program CompStat — have been building a list of names of people living on the street, and had 1,737 people still without shelter as of February.
The people on the street made up 51% of the list, while another 37% were in transitional housing like Safe Haven shelters, and 12% were in permanent housing.
Program workers have identified another 1,901 people they found on the street who are not necessarily homeless.