The homeless population in the subway system is growing

The MTA recently announced that the homeless population in the city's subway systems has grown more than 20 percent in the past year.

To help combat this issue, the MTA created a task force with the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, the New York State Office of Mental Health, the New York State Department of Health, and the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services. This task force investigated the issue of homelessness in the transport system.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority Managing Director Ronnie Hakim said in a press release that, “The MTA is working with our Task Force Partners to tackle homelessness in our system. Together, we have developed a series of immediate, comprehensive recommendations to address this issue head on and ensure vulnerable New Yorkers have access to the support they need. We will continue to work day and night to keep New Yorkers and our system safe.”

To help keep all New Yorkers safe, the state gave a $20 billion and five-year investment to help support homeless services, such as 100,000 affordable housing units and 6,000 units of supportive housing. So far, the funding has been used towards 5,500 units of supportive housing, and 3,700 are currently being built. Additionally, 1,000 of these units are already operational.

Read more: https://www.metro.us/news/local-news/new-york/homeless-population-subway-system-growing