Homelessness Rates for NYC Summary Arrests from 2019-2021

May 11, 2023
by Joanna Thomas

Research indicates high rates of homelessness among people involved in the criminal legal system. For example, a 2008 national survey found that 15.3% of the U.S. jail population reported an episode of homelessness anytime in the year before they were incarcerated. A 2006 NYC study of persons staying in a single adult shelter found 23.1% had a recent history of incarceration with 17.0% being people released from jail. However, information about homelessness for the entirety of the pretrial population is scarce.

Critically, a 2013 CJA report examined summary arrest¹ cases of people experiencing homelessness in NYC and found a yearly homelessness rate of 7.6%. This report builds upon the 2013 CJA publication to learn more about the current patterns of people arrested in NYC experiencing homelessness. To do this, we examined data on people from 2019-2021 who were summarily arrested in NYC, interviewed by CJA, and that reported experiencing homelessness at the time of their arrest - whether living in shelters or unhoused on the street.²

Key Facts

  • In 2013, CJA data found in 7.6% of summary arrest cases the person arrested experienced homelessness. This analysis found higher percentages in 2019-2021 with rates of 10.3%, 9.1%, and 9.5%, respectively.
  • The percentage of cases that report people living unsheltered reached its highest point in 2021 at 6.0%. Meanwhile, cases with people reporting living in a shelter decreased over the three years and reached its lowest point in 2021 at 3.5% - a smaller percentage than that reported in 2013.
  • There were notably high rates of homelessness in every release category compared to cases ROR’d at arraignment and those able to pay bail.
  • In the first half of 2022, CJA found the highest overall homelessness and unsheltered rates yet, and shelter rates also began increasing.
  • Given the city's escalating homelessness, coupled with the recent influx of international migrants, this research holds vital importance for future policymaking and the equitable distribution of services.

  • Future reports will explore additional factors among this population, such as racial and ethnic data, to identify any disparities or disproportionate impacts on certain communities or marginalized groups.

Compared to CJA’s 2013 report, this analysis found higher rates of cases with people experiencing homelessness with 2019-2021 rates of 10.3%, 9.1%, and 9.5%, respectively. Of cases reporting homelessness, the proportion of those living unsheltered increased each year over the course of the three years. While the unsheltered homelessness rate was highest in 2021 at 6.0%, cases with people reporting living in a shelter decreased over the three years and reached its lowest point in 2021 at 3.5% - a smaller percentage than that reported in 2013. Manhattan consistently had higher rates of homelessness than other boroughs: 18.8% in 2019, 17.6% in 2020, and 18.8% in 2021.

Most people summarily arrested in NYC are released with no conditions other than a promise to appear back in court; this is also known as being released on their own recognizance (ROR). People may also be released on monetary conditions, such as bail, or they may be released on non-monetary conditions, which may include placement in one of the City’s pretrial community supervision programs and/or court mandates like electronic monitoring or mandated programming, among other conditions. People may also be detained in jail if they cannot afford to post bail or if a judge remands them to pretrial detention. This analysis found higher rates of homelessness in every release category compared to cases of people able to pay bail and those ROR'd at arraignment, which had rates ranging from 1.6%-2.8% and 5.2%-6.7%, respectively. In comparison, people not released pretrial had notably high rates of homelessness, ranging from 20.5%-24.0%.

It is important to note that these percentages are likely an undercount for several reasons, including challenges in accurately identifying whether someone is experiencing homelessness, a person’s reluctance to self-identify as experiencing homelessness in a pre-arraignment interview setting, and a lack of an exhaustive list of homeless shelter information. While this analysis found that the sheltered rate decreased across the three years, the overall homelessness and unsheltered rate decreased slightly in 2020 before increasing in 2021. NYC’s Department of Homeless Services (DHS) family shelter census also dropped for a period, concurrent with the eviction moratorium and the transition of people in congregate shelters to hotels and commercial lodgings converted into shelters. Although a number of the newly created shelters were identified for this analysis, it is possible some were not identified, and this may have contributed to the decrease in the shelter rate.

Additionally, any conclusions drawn from 2020 should be made cautiously due to limitations in the data. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, in-person pre-arraignment interviews were paused, and people with cases were interviewed through a virtual release assessment. Thus, cases of the people interviewed during this period (3/15/20-9/28/20) are excluded from analysis. Data from this period is critical to better understand how this population and homelessness rates were affected. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted many people’s ability to access vital services and community supports, which may have increased their likelihood of coming into contact with the criminal legal system. During this time, CJA’s updated release assessment was also recently implemented, and significant changes in the bail legislation went into effect that decreased the total number of summary arrests in the city and likely altered the general make-up of this population.

Despite these limitations, this report provides critical information on recent estimates of people experiencing homelessness in NYC’s criminal legal system. While there was a small decrease in the pretrial population’s overall homelessness rates from 2019 to 2021, a greater percentage of those arrested reported living unsheltered. More recently, NYC has seen a steady increase in eviction rates with the end of the eviction moratorium. Additionally, the DHS family shelter census reports a significant increase over the past year, recently reaching record breaking numbers of families with children living in shelters. At the start of December 2022, there was a 43% increase in families with children living in shelters from one year ago. In fact, in the first half of 2022, we found overall homelessness rates for arrest cases reached 11.7% with a 7.4% unsheltered rate, surpassing the highs from the prior three years. In Manhattan, rates reached 21.4% with 14.6% reporting living unsheltered. Shelter rates also began increasing in the first half of 2022 at 4.3% - slightly less than the 2019 shelter rate of 4.9%.

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https://twitter.com/ICPH_homeless/status/1600218713436917774

It is increasingly important to gain a better understanding of how people who experience homelessness interact with our criminal legal system. Although challenges with accurate identification, data collection, and reporting significantly fail to capture the entirety of the homeless population, estimates from NY Coalition for the Homeless report homelessness levels in NYC are currently at the highest since the Great Depression. It is widely viewed that the City’s annual point-in-time estimate of people living unsheltered significantly underestimates the true size of this population. In fact, the 2013 CJA report found the number of individuals who are unsheltered in New York City at any time during the year is likely considerably larger than the number in the one-night census. Factors contributing to the rise in homelessness include lack of affordable housing and increases in rents, evictions, unemployment, poverty, unmet mental and behavioral health needs, domestic violence, and crowded and unsafe housing conditions. These problems are particularly prevalent among people experiencing homelessness in the criminal legal system. This is especially true for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPoC), who are disproportionately impacted by homelessness and the criminal legal system due to significant racial disparities across multiple systems from decades of historic and systemic racism and marginalization, as well as discriminatory policies and practices.

homeless tents in Thompkins Park

The intertwined connection between homelessness and involvement in the criminal legal system is well documented. People experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity report histories of arrest and incarceration more often than the general public, as they are more likely to be arrested for a variety of survival offenses, or offenses related to behaviors associated with homelessness, such as sleeping or camping in public spaces, failure to pay transit fares, panhandling, and other public order offenses. People experiencing homelessness are also more likely to have health conditions that place them at greater risk of criminal legal involvement, such as substance use issues and severe mental illness. People previously involved in the criminal legal system also have a higher chance of experiencing homelessness, as they face increased discrimination and barriers to accessing supportive services. Additionally, arrest and incarceration - even short jail stays - can disrupt employment and the ability to maintain housing. Notably, the 2013 CJA report found people experiencing homelessness had a more extensive criminal history than people not experiencing homelessness. Additionally, they were much less likely to be released, and when released, more likely to fail to appear for their court date, as well as more likely to be re-arrested, convicted, and incarcerated.

This report lays the groundwork for understanding recent homelessness trends among people arrested in NYC. However, to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the complex patterns of homelessness in this population, future CJA research aims to explore additional factors such as demographics, unmet social needs, mental and behavioral health challenges, community ties, criminal history, current case details, case outcomes, and other potentially relevant information. It is especially important to collect and examine racial and ethnic data to identify any disparities and develop interventions to target underlying causes that can improve outcomes for marginalized populations. Additionally, it is crucial to consider the broader NYC landscape, such as how available resources, supportive services, and evolving public policies, including approaches to immigration, impact the volume and accessibility of affordable and supportive housing, as well as its influence on shelter occupancy rates and the safety of those conditions. Jurisdictions require dependable, accurate, and frequent data to grasp the current situation, identify gaps and barriers, and develop effective policy solutions that improve pretrial outcomes and disrupt the cycle of homelessness and criminal legal involvement that continues to harm marginalized populations, as well as the health and safety of entire communities.

Notes:
1. When someone is arrested in NYC, there are several types of arrests that may take place. A summary arrest involves a person being brought to the precinct and fingerprinted, before being transported to a courthouse where they are detained until their arraignment, which must take place within 24 hours. Alternatively, Desk Appearance Tickets (DATs) allow a person to go home from the precinct with a written summons requiring them to return at a later date for arraignment in criminal court. DATs are mostly issued for misdemeanors or lesser offenses and are sometimes issued for some low-level felonies.
2. This report uses similar criteria as CJA’s 2013 report in that it is a case-based analysis, rather than person-based, and people may have more than one open case at a time. Cases were excluded from analysis if they were a Desk Appearance Ticket (DAT), refused to provide an address, did not know their address, or if their address was missing. Cases were classified as “street homeless” if they reported they had no address or reported living on the street. Cases were classified as “shelter homeless” if they said they lived in a shelter or provided an address for a homeless shelter, including hotels and motels converted to homeless shelters. A follow-up CJA report used a person-based analysis and found a slightly lower rate of homelessness (6.8% vs. 7.6%).
Read More From The Original Report
This research brief examines data on arrests of homeless individuals in New York City in 2013
Publications
Brief No. 37: Arrested and Homeless in NYC
Richard Peterson
May 1, 2015