The state’s highest court quashed a key part of Mayor Bloomberg’s homeless policy today when it ruled that he ran circumvented city review process in changing requirements about how single adults are admitted to public shelters.
The mayor’s Department of Homeless Services set new rules in 2011 that would have required New Yorkers using the system to jump through a number of bureaucratic hoops — decried by the Council and Speaker Christine Quinn — like providing documentation of finances, mental and physical health and housing history.
The procedure would have applied to all single adults.
But the Court of Appeals in a unanimous decision found that the mayor should have given public notice and provided hearings regarding the requirements because that process “raises local awareness and provides an opportunity for stakeholders to be heard.”
The City Council opposed the changes and Speaker Quinn sued to stop them.
She hailed the ruling in a statement. “We are extremely pleased with today’s decision which prevents the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) from implementing a policy that would have kept thousands of homeless men and women out of shelter,” Quinn said, adding a jab at Bloomberg, “As the Court rightly held, the Mayor cannot unilaterally impose policies that would have such significant impact without even notifying the public or receiving comments.”
The city’s Law Department did not immediately return requests for comment.
In the past the Department of Homeless Services, which houses over 51,380 in its shelters, had said that the new rule would reduce the population by 10 percent, saving the city $4 million annually.