New York City officials intentionally manipulated public data on homelessness and did not report violations of rules in place to prevent families from going without shelter at night, a new report claimed.  

City officials failed to identify at least six unreported violations and fudged data about the number of families eligible for shelter from 2017 until 2022 under the administrations of Democratic mayors Bill de Blasio and Eric Adams, the 49-page report revealed. 

Specifically, the Adams administration failed to provide beds for at least 11 homeless families in the summer of 2022 — a move that violated a city rule that ensures people seeking shelter are given a place to sleep. 

An investigation was launched after reports that homeless families stayed overnight at an intake office in the Bronx were leaked. 

Gary Jenkins, the city’s former social services coordinator, delayed reporting the violations and failed to disclose the situation to the mayor’s office, according to the report. 

Around the same time, top homeless services officials made up data on the number of families eligible for shelter, making it seem, on paper at least, that New York City’s homelessness problem was a lot less severe than it was. 

Administrator Joslyn Carter and her subordinates toyed with the “Monthly Eligibility Rate,” according to the report. 

“[The Department of Investigation] identified an intentional and yearslong effort within the [Department of Social Services] to manipulate the number of families eligible for shelter on a daily basis, dating from 2017 through early to mid-2022, in order to control the Monthly Eligibility Rate, a publicly-reported figure,” according to the report. “Accuracy and transparency are critical to government operations, and DOI’s recommendations seek to improve DSS’s procedures and to facilitate the collection and reporting of correct information concerning families in need of shelter.” 

The rate is published on NYC Open Data and reflects the percentage of families seeking Department of Homeless Services shelter who are found eligible for shelter each month.

“Administrator Carter told DOI that she acted at the direction of former DSS Commissioner Steven Banks (who led the agency from April 2015 until December 2021) and who instructed her to decrease the Monthly Eligibility Rate in light of then-Mayor Bill de Blasio’s concerns about increases in the rate,” according to the report. 

“Former Commissioner Banks acknowledged that he paid attention to fluctuations in the rate and at times discussed it with then-Mayor de Blasio and other senior administration officials but denied knowledge of or involvement in any manipulation of the Monthly Eligibility Rate,” per the report. “DOI found that both Administrator Carter and former Commissioner Banks provided credible accounts with respect to their understanding of and involvement with the Monthly Eligibility Rate during the relevant time period, and each account is corroborated in certain respects. However, their accounts are irreconcilable as to the question of whether former Commissioner Banks knew of and directed Administrator Carter to engage in the data manipulation and DOI was not able to corroborate that claim.”

Homeless advocates called the violation findings a “disturbing cover-up” and said they were “extremely troubled” by the manipulation of data, the New York Times reported.  

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Advocates also called on the New York City Council to hold an oversight hearing on the report.

The violations came as city officials dealt with a surge in immigrant families arriving in the city without a place to stay. Over the past two years, more than 160,000 immigrants have flooded New York, stretching the city’s resources and overwhelming its shelter system.