De Blasio and homeless services department announce reforms to two large shelters
Mayor Bill de Blasio and the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) Commissioner Gilbert Taylor today announced the administration’s plan to convert the Auburn Family Shelter and the Catherine Street Family Shelter – two of the largest city owned and operated family shelters – into facilities that will service homeless adult couples without minors.
Following a December 2013 New York Times investigative story profiling a homeless family at the Auburn Family Shelter in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, Mayor de Blasio charged the Department of Homeless Services Commissioner with developing a plan for the removal of all families with children from DHS-run shelters with congregate bathrooms.