sad things

More Homeless People Went Underground This Winter

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 21: People walks past a homeless man who did not want to be identified on their way to the National Mall to attend the Inauguration ceremony on January 21, 2013 in Washington, DC. U.S. President Barack Obama, will be ceremonially sworn in for his second term today. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Photo: Mario Tama/2013 Getty Images

An average of 50,000 people spent each night in a New York homeless shelter in January — about 22 percent more than last year — though a Wednesday report from the Bloomberg administration says the number of people with nowhere to go has declined by 28 percent since 2005. The city’s survey put the population of “unsheltered” homeless in January at 3,180, and estimated that 1,841 of them were sleeping on the subways that freezing month — a 13-percent increase from the previous year, and a 118-percent increase from 2005, which is when officials began keeping track. Mary Brosnahan, the head of Coalition for the Homeless, called the tally “deeply flawed” and said its claim “that street homelessness is down completely lacking in credibility.” Department of Homeless Services commissioner Seth Diamond called that critique “outrageous and irresponsible” — kind of like his boss’s claim that no one is sleeping outside at all.

More Homeless Went Underground This Winter