Over a month ago, the Coalition for the Homeless released its eighth “State of the Homeless” report, an annual assessment of homelessness in New York City. The report “finds that increasing housing costs, low wages and flaws in the city’s Housing Stability Plus program are leading more families than ever before into New York City’s shelter system.”

The report finds that in the past year the number of homeless New Yorkers in shelters increased by 11.1% (to 35,113), the number of homeless families in New York City shelters increased by 17.6% (to 9,190) and the number of homeless children increased by 18.1% (14,219). Most striking, the report finds that the average number of families in shelters hit an all-time record high last month – with the Department of Homeless Services reporting a monthly average of 9,287 families in the city’s shelters in February. These numbers come less than a month after the Mayor’s Management Report documented a 24% increase in the number of new families entering the shelter system.