Homeless Count Shows The Perils Of Street Life
BY RICHARD GENTILVISO E
arly on January 14 the temperature was still 57 degrees. It was unusually mild for winter and it didn't look like it would be a weekend to stay indoors. But soon Esnow and wind dropped temperatures to a low of

16 degrees with wind chills reaching zero by midnight. The next morning three men were found dead-frozen solid. Two, age 60 and 52, were found in a vacant lot in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, thought to be frequented by the homeless, while the third, age 59, was found in a park on Conduit Boulevard in Ozone Park, Queens. They were the first fatalities due to cold in 2006.

According to a new study, death rates for homeless people living in city-run shelters are twice as high as those for the general population, although the top two causes, cancer and heart disease, are the same for both groups. Substance abuse and HIV-AIDS, account for less than 5 percent of deaths in the general population. They are the next leading causes of death for the homeless population, resulting in a third of all deaths among the homeless.

From 2001 through 2003 17 deaths were recorded from exposure to excessive cold among the city's homeless population, Bonnie Kerker, Ph.D. said. Kerker is assistant commissioner of the Division of Epidemiology Services for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH).

Presenting the results of DOHMH's study on the health of New York City's homeless population at the March 7 meeting of the Queens Borough Cabinet, Kerker said homelessness is associated with a variety of health issues, including mental illness, alcoholism and substance abuse. Hospitalizations in the homeless population are almost twice as high as in the general population, with substance abuse accounting for about a third, alcoholism about a quarter and mental illness about 14 percent. "Each increases the risk for homelessness and being homeless increases health risks," she said.

The study, released at the end of 2005, is based on persons who spent at least one night in a Department of Homeless Services shelter from January 2001 through December 2003. It excludes homeless people living on the street or in other shelters. "It's not a perfect study, but it's the best we have," Kerker said. The annual count of the city's homeless population living on streets was conducted for four hours beginning at midnight on February 28. Last year, 335 unsheltered people were counted in Queens.

In a second presentation, Gerry Kelpin, director of Air and Noise, Permitting and Enforcement for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), said there will be a handful of changes in the city's new noise code that was passed in December 2005 and is due to take effect in July 2007.

"One of our problems was the unreasonable noise standard," Kelpin said. "It is one of the reasons that really troubled us." The old noise code simply had no standard for determining what exactly was unreasonable noise and we could be challenged in court.

The new standard, "plainly audible", combines measurements at a distance from the source of noise. In general, unreasonable noise is defined to include, but is not limited to, an increase of 7 decibels of ambient sound at night within a receiving property or at a distance of 15 feet from the source on a public right-of-way. During the day, it is defined as an increase of 10 decibels of ambient sound within a property line or at 15 feet from the source on a public right-of-way. Nonconstruction related impulsive sound, impact sound not related to specific construction, will be regulated at an excess of 15 decibels above ambient sound.

"We've tried to improve our enforcement by giving us a real number to go after," Kelpin said. Until July 2007, the existing code is still in effect and, she said, "We will continue to enforce it."