Improving the Experience of Homeless Families at PATH

While all New Yorkers experiencing homelessness have a legal right to shelter, accessing shelter is an onerous process at best. For families experiencing homelessness, this process starts at the Prevention Assistance and Temporary Housing (PATH) assessment center — one location in the Bronx that all families must travel to. At PATH, parents and children spend an entire day in waiting rooms, filling out forms, providing documentation, and meeting with multiple workers — called “fraud investigators”— to tell and retell their story and prove they have no other housing options.