Real estate brokers and agents in the Manhattan area have noticed that many of their prospective clients are reluctant to buy or rent a real estate property when they spot a homeless person within the vicinity of the property.
Dan Bamberger, an independent broker in Murray Hill made an amateur data analysis for his monthly newsletter. Bamberger did a research to see if property values near homeless settlements declined. He utilizes data from the NYC Map the Homeless and cross-referencing it with real estate sales data on Streeteasy, finding comparable units in "homeless hotspots" and in buildings just a block away.
Bamberger found that an average of 4.4% difference in price between one-bedroom apartments with immediate exposure to street homelessness and those one block away.
The biggest margins we found were in areas on the Upper West Side (a twelve percent difference) with the smallest ones on the Upper East Side (a measly .2 percent). Murray Hill had a minimal one percent difference in pricing
According to the city's Department of Homeless Services more than 57,000 adults and children sleeps in city shelters at night and a thousand more find comfort on streets, in the subway system and in other public spaces.
With the alarming numbers of homeless people in the area, DNA Info reported that the amount of 311 calls pertaining homeless has rose for about 60 percent since Mayor Bill de Blasio took office.
Mayor Blasio has recently announced that the city is going to spend $4 billion more on homelessness for the next four years. These will be including $84 million directed toward outreach and programming to help bring street homeless individuals into shelters and $22 million effort designed to address mentally ill people who are prone to violence dubbed as NYC Safe.
The Department of Homeless Service is encouraging everyone in the area to call 311 when they see someone in need of assistance.
