A DHS guiding principle states that all homeless individuals and families deserve safe, temporary shelter and that planning for permanent housing should begin immediately. New York City provides shelter to families that have no permanent or temporary place to live.

Who Is Eligible
Where To Go
What To Bring, What Not To Bring
What To Expect 

*Advisory*
As of December 2009, Section 8 no longer is available from the New York City Housing Authority. Therefore, DHS no longer is accepting applications for Section 8.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE (back to top )

Families with a viable housing option will not be determined eligible for shelter services. You instead may be able to qualify for one of the many homelessness prevention programs that assist families in retaining their existing housing. If you already are homeless and preventive assistance cannot help you keep your existing housing, DHS will provide temporary emergency shelter in a safe environment. Before being placed in shelter, however, your family must be found eligible.

In order for you and your family to be found eligible, DHS must verify that your family is in immediate need of temporary emergency shelter. DHS will conduct an investigation to determine whether there is any other safe and appropriate place for you and your family to stay, even temporarily. To aid the investigation, you should provide any documents that will help investigators understand why you now are homeless. Examples include: eviction papers, marshal’s 72-hour notices, letters from landlords or managing agents, letters from people you used to live with, and documents from doctors or other professionals showing that a former apartment no longer may be appropriate.

To be found eligible for emergency housing assistance, you and your family must apply for, or already be receiving, Public Assistance. HRA’s Eligibility Processing Unit is located at the family intake center, and will help your family apply.

DHS defines a family as: 1) legally married couples with or without children; 2) single parents with children; 3) pregnant women; and 4) unmarried couples, with or without children, who have cohabited for a substantial period of time and demonstrate a need to be sheltered together.

WHERE TO GO (back to top )

Please read this section carefully – depending on your family situation, you must go to one of two family intake centers.

Families with Children Under 21 Years Old

• Families with children younger than 21 years old who are applying for shelter must go (in-person) to the Prevention Assistance and Temporary Housing (PATH) Office in the Bronx. The PATH Office is open 24 hours, seven days a week.

Pregnant Families (single pregnant women, pregnant couples, or parent/grandparent(s) with a pregnant child 21 years of age or over)

• Pregnant families must go (in-person) to the Prevention Assistance and Temporary Housing (PATH) Office in the Bronx. The PATH Office is open 24 hours, seven days a week.

Adult Families with No Children Under 21

• Adult families with no children younger than 21 must go to the Adult Family Intake Center (AFIC), located in Manhattan. AFIC is open 24 hours, seven days a week.

Prevention Assistance and Temporary Housing (PATH) Office
151 E. 151^st Street
Bronx, NY 10451
Open 24 hours, 7 days a week 

Directions: 

Subway: Take the 2, 4 or 5 train to the 149th Street / Grand Concourse Station. Head west on E. 149^th Street toward Grand Concourse. Walk north on Grand Concourse two blocks, to E. 151^st Street and turn left. Walk two blocks to Walton Avenue. The PATH office is located at the corner on your right.

Adult Family Intake Center (AFIC)
400-430 East 30th St./ 1st Ave.
New York, NY 10016 (Manhattan)

Directions:

Subway: 6 to 28th Street station. Walk east to 1st Avenue and turn left, heading north to 30th street.

Bus: M15 to 29th Street

WHO SHOULD GO (back to top)

DHS defines an Adult Family as:

1. Applicants who are a legally married couple and present a valid original marriage certificate; or
2. Applicants who are a domestic partners couple and present a valid original domestic partnership certificate; or
3. Adults who provide, as part of their application for Temporary Housing Assistance, proof establishing the medical dependence of one applicant upon another; Two or more adults who can provide birth certificates to prove a parent/child or sibling family relationship or share a "caretaking" (emotionally or physically supportive) relationship, including: (i) aunt/uncle to niece/nephew; (ii) grandparent to grandchild; (iii) parent to child or step-child; and (iv) siblings; and can demonstrate that they have resided with one another for 180 days within the year immediately prior to the date of their application..  (NOTE: this only applies to families with children who are 21 years of age and older.) 

WHAT TO BRING (back to top)

• You will need to have valid original identification, such as a welfare ID card, green card, driver's license, passport/visa, or picture employment card. If you do not have a picture ID, you can generally use a birth certificate, social security card, Medicaid card, identity card in the public assistance system, or a pay stub to prove your identity.
• In order to apply at AFIC you need to verify that your household constitutes a family and must:
  • Verify that the applicant couple is either legally married or has obtained a valid domestic  partnership certificate; or
  • Prove medical dependency of one applicant upon another; or
  •  Establish that two or more adult applicants as listed above share a caretaking (emotionally or physically) relationship and can demonstrate that they have resided with one another for 180 days within the year immediately prior to the date of application for Temporary Housing Assistance or can provide birth certificates to prove a parent/child or sibling family relationship. 
  • It is also a requirement for each applicant to provide proof of residence for the last year. 
• It is also helpful to bring the following if you have it:
  • Eviction papers or Marshal's Notice
  •   
  • Leases
  • Con Edison or telephone bill
  • Pay stub, or proof of income 
• Do not bring:
  • Any contraband, alcohol, or illegal substances (smoking is not allowed in public buildings within New York City);
  • Expensive personal belongings (DHS is not responsible for lost or damaged goods);
  • Friends and visitors, or anyone not a part of your family;
  • Food;
  • Furniture;
  • Cameras;Appliances; and/or
  • Pets. 

WHAT TO EXPECT (back to top )

If your family is found eligible, you will be placed in temporary emergency housing. Shelters are run by non-profit and other organizations.

When in shelter, all clients will be expected to follow certain guidelines, which include:

• Following your family’s Independent Living Plan (ILP), which includes the steps you will need to follow to get permanent housing;
• Applying for Public Assistance or another type of housing subsidy;
• Working closely with your caseworker or housing specialist to locate and view available apartments;
• Actively seeking permanent housing for you and your family by viewing available apartments several times per week;
• Accepting a suitable apartment for you and your family when it is offered to you; and
• Following shelter guidelines that prohibit behavior that places other clients and staff at risk. 

Failing to abide by these rules may have serious consequences including but not limited to the temporary discontinuance of shelter services. By working closely with shelter staff and following these and other rules, the City of New York can best assist you in quickly moving from shelter to permanent housing.

KEEPING YOUR BABY SAFE (back to top )

The safety of infants who are staying in the city shelter system is a priority for DHS and its providers.  Every family with an infant is provided with information on numerous ways to ensure their children are safe and protected from potential hazards.  This information is provided when families apply for shelter at DHS' families with children intake center (PATH), and again once they enter shelter.  All clients are required to watch the video "A Life to Love," produced by the New York City Administration for Children's Services (ACS), which includes tips on Safe Sleeping, the hazards of leaving children unattended in a bath or a car, the importance of window guards, Shaken Baby Syndrome, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, car seat usage, stairwell gates, cabinet safety latches and other protective devices.

DHS has coordinated a Safe Sleeping campaign in the shelter system, providing detailed information to families with children about the best ways to ensure infants sleep properly in the safest possible environment.  At PATH, pregnant women and families with babies younger than one year old receive counseling and literature regarding Safe Sleeping from a Health Educator.   Upon entering shelter, all families with children two years old or younger are provided with a crib, receive Safe Sleeping counseling from their Case Manager or other shelter staff and sign a Client Crib Assignment Form, stating that they understand that cribs should be used only for sleeping.  Within 24 hours of their arrival, families are requested to view the ACS video, "A Life to Love."  Posters and literature on Safe Sleeping are provided to families throughout their shelter stay.  Shelter staff follow up with families in their rooms on a weekly basis for the first four months of a baby's life, and twice monthly thereafter, to ensure cribs are used in a proper manner.  If a parent is found to be sharing their bed with a baby, case managers and/or other DHS staff will speak with them about the dangers of bed-sharing and the possible harm to their baby.

Please click here to view the video, "A Life to Love," on ACS' Web site.

Please click here to see Safe Sleeping tips from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.(PDF)

Pulse aquí para ver los consejos del National Institute of Child Health and Human Development para que su bebé Duerma seguro.(PDF en español)

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