By Kari Milchman

Last Wednesday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s 5-year plan to end homelessness came under attack by a homeless advocacy group. The assessment of his plan, first unveiled in August 2004, by the Coalition for The Homeless revealed that a record number of New York City families rely on homeless shelters. The report specifically called attention to Bloomberg’s attempt to reduce the number of homeless families in the shelter system from 8,850 to 7,400, pointing out that the number actually soared to 9,287 this February. The coalition blames part of the problem on a program called Housing Stability Plus, a service that provides tenants who are on welfare with five years of gradually decreasing rent subsidies. Officials say 10,000 families and individuals have been placed into their own homes since the program’s inception. But others criticize the fact that the rent subsidy is reduced each year and claim that recipients have a hard time keeping a full-time job to pay for the apartments when they are required to stay on welfare to be eligible for assistance. A Department of Homeless Services spokeswoman criticized the coalition for being opportunistic and overly concerned with generating headlines—apparently, she doesn’t subscribe to the any-press-is-good-press school.