Problem with everything weve got. But will this one work . We talk to one of the mayors Senior Advisers, and well also talk with former City Council Speaker and onetime mayoral candidate Christine Quinn. Shes just become the head of one of new york citys largest providers of services to homeless women and children. And good morning, everyone. Welcome to upclose. Im bill ritter in for diana williams. The numbers dont lie, and neither do our eyes. The homeless problem in new york city either flirting with or at the point of being the worst its been in decades or perhaps ever. Much criticism directed at mayor de blasio, but the hard truth is, this is not a problem wholly of new york citys making, and finding an answer is difficult at best. The homeless situation in new york city has gone from bad to worse this year. In the last few weeks, police have dismantled about 30 homeless encampments. The mayor spending millions on new Homeless Housing with onsite social services, and now hes trying to do something about homelessness on the streets and aggressive panhandling. Point, that we are gonna go at this problem with everything weve got. And when we hear a report of someone in distress, someone in need, we are gonna go there compassionately, vigorously, with all we have. But we will not tolerate any form of illegal activity. At a breakfast on thursday, the mayor announcing a new program nyc homestat. It includes daily canvassing of the homeless from 145th street all the way down to canal. He promises a onehour Response Time to complaints about the homeless, and it all includes more than 137 new staff and 40 Police Officers concentrating on homeless outreach. Over the summer, he finally admitted that there were more people on the street and then now saying, yes, this is out of control and we have to do something. Advocates for the homeless are praising the mayor. This week, he accepted the resignation of the commissioner of homeless services. The departments being reorganized, and the mayors finally stopping the blame game of saying its his predecessors fault. Up with saying, you know, we inherited a huge problem. I think everybody understands that Mike Bloomberg dug this horrific hole with 60,000 Homeless People. Its just unprecedented. But we have to look forward and look at the solutions, which we know what they are. If the mayors successful, perhaps we will not see so many the future. If it gets worse, hell have to take the blame. For all this to work, though, the city of new york has to own this problem. We have to own it more assertively than we ever have. We have to reach the street homeless literally every single day. Forward now. Joining us this morning, phil walzak, a Senior Adviser to mayor de blasio. Phil, welcome here. Thanks very much. It sounds easy. You know, everyone says, oh, just solve this problem. Why is it so difficult . Well, its a complex problem. There are many Different Levels to the issue. You have families facing Economic Hardship that find themselves out of housing and needing to live in a shelter system. You have people who are suffering from Mental Illness or then you have folks who are living on the streets 24 7. Each of those situations contributes to the homelessness population. But they all require unique and different policy approaches to solve them, and thats what were working on now at city hall. Whats different about this approach that the mayor announced this week than the strategy of your administration, your bosss administration, in the last two years . Well, this is a new tool to address specifically street homelessness. We have initiated a number of reforms over the past two years to deal with either to prevent homelessness and also to place people from shelter to permanent housing. Homestat is designed to address those who are living on the street 24 7, a population of approximately 3,000 to 4,000 people in new york city with individual and specific needs. Our plan is new and different in that it does three things. One is a proactive canvass areas where there are hotspots, concentrations of people who may be homeless, or individuals who may appear to need specific help. There are other pieces that then dispatch outreach workers to these individuals and meets them directly and interacts with them, connecting them to services. Homestat mirroring the Police Departments compstat, where if you see a neighborhood that all of a sudden has crime, boom, you flood police in that area and try to get rid of it. But not police only. Here its a series of qualified professionals who have experience in the homelessness field who can talk to the clients about the needs they may have. You know better than anyone theres been just a ton of criticism about this. Why did it take two years before this homestat program was introduced . Why not do it as one of the first priorities of the new administration . Well, the administration has done a number of things over the course of two years to talk about homelessness. I talked about some of the Preventative Services weve offered, and 90,000 new yorkers have taken advantage of the Preventative Services like rent assistance, a legal aid that we put forth. New yorkers 22,000 from shelter into permanent homes. So weve been addressing it at a number of Different Levels. This idea, this plan, is directed towards the street homeless issue specifically. As i said before, its a difficult, challenging issue and requires a number of different approaches to actually get results. Looking back now, and its easy to take a 20 20 hindsight, but, you know, sort of criticism, selfcriticism, looking back, if you had to do it over again, would you have done this earlier . Well, i think that we are focused on looking forward. I think that our responsibility here, its a solemn responsibility, is for those 58,000 or so new yorkers in shelter and the 3,000 to 4,000 new yorkers who are on the streets, we have an obligation, as the mayor said, to own this issue, and thats what were gonna be doing. As long as youre here, let me ask you about a couple more general things since you are an overall adviser of mayor de blasio. The mayor ran against the bloomberg legacy, and recently, in the last few months, weve seen him praise some of Michael Bloombergs policies. Why the seat change . Back at the mayors remarks, he always was very open and up front about saying that when he disagreed with the mayor or anybody, he was going to say that and when there was an agreement that he would support the mayor or mayor bloomberg or anybody. And for example, there were a couple of initiatives like the health push that mayor bloomberg did, the Climate Change stuff, the gun control issues, where the mayor has been consistent in voicing support for those initiatives. I havent heard it. Maybe it was just me that i hadnt heard that before, but youre saying hes been consistent. It seemed to me that the echo chamber was more antibloomberg, but well, he, of course, was never afraid to disagree on certain issues. Thats for sure. But there have been areas of agreement, and theyve worked together in some areas. There are a lot of liberals in this town who are upset at your boss, who have felt like he has not done the job that they thought he would do, a lot of wealthy liberals, who say, hey, why havent they come to us for support . We would be glad to help out here. But he has tended, they say, not to be attracted. Has a focus on a broad agenda with many issues and is not looking to push anyone away. So i think that that true. I think that the tech industry, for example, and other economic sectors, where hes looking to be supportive, and hes always looking to develop partnerships that can move the city forward. So any liberals who have a lot of money out there who would like to help out this city. They can call me. They can call phil walzak. Call me at city hall. All right, look us up in the website, and ill give you phils direct number. Direct line. Yes. All right, phil, great talking to you. Thank you very much. Good luck with the homestat program. Coming up, a familiar face in new york City PoliticsChristine Quinn. She was the City Council Speaker and a candidate for mayor against bill de blasio. Now, as it happens, shes in charge of a huge organization that helps homeless women and children, and shes working with the mayor and his folk. Welcome back to upclose. She wanted to be the first woman to become mayor of new york, and for a while, she was the frontrunner, the candidate to beat, until bill de blasio grabbed that mantle from her. Christine quinn is here. Her new job head of one of new yorks largest and most respected homelessservice agencies for women and children, called win. Christine, nice to see you. Thank you. So, your new job whats it like . Seven weeks in, and its amazing. You know, we at win are the largest provider of shelter and permanent housing to homeless families in new york. We house 4,700 people a night, 2,700 of whom are children. And the staff at win theyre on the front lines every day, trying to help these families children. And when you talk about families, the women who are there most of them are single mothers. Oh, yeah. 90 to 95 on any given time of our heads of households are single women with children. And you know whats really important . 40 of those women, when they enter our shelters, are working. So this idea that some people might have that Homeless People arent working or are lazy or whatever farthest from the truth. 40 are working but were unable to stay in their homes. Right. And perhaps theyre not working full time, perhaps theyre working for minimum wage. Exactly, exactly. So the whole minimumwage debate affects you, as well. Very much so. So youve come into this job at a time when homelessness is at our near record levels. This year, its flirted and been there several times. And same with families. Most people dont realize that the majority of the people in the system are families, and 20 of the people in homeless 20 are under 5 years of age. So its all these kids. Its children. And that is how theyre beginning their lives, under this milieu. Youve also come in at a time when the mayor, this last week, has completely reorganized his whats your viewpoint on this . Is it too little, too late . Is it just too late . Is it better now than never . Well, look, its never too late, because we had 4,700 people with us last night, just at win, who need homes. Almost 60,000 in the shelter. So its never too late, first of all. And i think homestat will be very helpful to helping the folks who are living on the street, which is obviously not appropriate, get into housing and get the services they need. But there isnt one announcement this one or any other one that is gonna solve the problem. Its gonna take more than that. And from my perspective at win, we need to make sure we dont forget the families and the children who are in this system. Yes, we need to talk about and help the singles who are living on the street, without a doubt, entirety of the problem. And, also, i want to caution people. I completely agree. Its not acceptable to walk out of your home and see somebody living on the street. You pay taxes. Thats not how it should be, and its not good for that person. But just because you dont see someone doesnt mean we dont have tens of thousands of people who are homeless in new york. So when the police clear out these encampments that popped up this summer and this fall, your viewpoint on that . Look, i understand totally why people dont want encampments of Homeless People in their parks, places they need to take their children. And its not good for the Homeless People, either. But the question here, really, is, what do we need to do to help make sure people get out of the shelters and break the cycle of homelessness so they dont come back . And there are absolutely more steps we should be taking as a city, in addition to what the mayor announced this week. And i want to applaud him for it, but in addition. Like what . Like getting them into housing Public Housing or vouchers that we tried to have . We just did a story on the voucher system. Our Investigative Reporter jim hoffer did a story. Half the people who have tried to get vouchers, the landlords wont take them. Its like a market not taking food stamps. So, its a couple of different things. One, let me start with shelter. We need to make sure that the shelters the city is funding and operating have comprehensive services. At win, we have the way to win. Holistic services, childcare, mental health, substance abuse, job training, and beyond. Its not just as my father would say three hots and a cot. People need services. They need to get to the root cause of why they ended up in a shelter. And that may mean more resources for shelter. Two and this is a hard thing for people to digest we need to expand shelter capacity. Right now, bill, there are 3,000 private apartments in new york city that are being used as temporary shelter. Of those and put them in appropriate shelter with services, thats 3,000 apartments that would be open for families as permanent housing. Im gonna move on raising the homeless issue for one second, but capping on what youre saying these are to a big problem in new york city. You wanted to be in charge of this. Job. You didnt get it. Is it frustrating to look at it from the sides, or are you over that two years later . You know, life is about kind of chapters or seasons or moments, and, certainly, i wanted to mayor, and that didnt work out. And now my season and chapter im in is being an advocate and a Service Provider to homeless families. And im 1,000 focused on that, and ive just given a couple of ideas. There is more we need to do. You know, you mentioned landlords who arent taking vouchers. Let me make it perfectly clear to any such landlord whos watching this show that is illegal. And there are groups like win are preparing to take you to court cause that is a violation of the law a law we passed when i was in the council. You cannot do that. Its happening, and its part of why win clients and other clients are staying in shelter, and we need to put an end to it. Youve never been shy about expressing your positions, and youre not now. Are we gonna see a Christine Quinn candidacy sometime in the future . You know, never say never. But right now, i have a huge and incredibly important job, working with some of the most amazing women i have ever strongest women ive ever met. Its a wonderful organization, no question about that, but you are plugged into politics, and you know that there are Many Democrats who are thinking about running against mayor de blasio in two years when his terms up first terms up. Are you among them number one . Number two what do you think about this early in this process, in the same party, thinking about running against the incumbent . I think its politics in new york. Ive been there. Ive done it. In new york and you always hear about people throwing names out. Im not surprised. Its typical. Christine quinn, great talking to you. Thank you. Good luck in your new job. Thank you. All right, christine. Coming up, were gonna switch topics. Violence behind the bars. Well meet a correction officer slashed by inmates at Rikers Island in a gruesome attack. He and the president of the Correction Officers Union say Prison Reforms by mayor de blasio are making their hes one of those in charge of keeping the peace at rikers, but last month, he was the victim of violence. Correction officer ray calderon viciously slashed by two teenage inmates at rikers. He needed 22 stitches. Shortly after the attack, he joined other correction officers and said the new jail guidelines correction makes their jobs more dangerous. The rules include putting the brakes on solitary confinement for any inmate under 21. You cannot hold someone in a position of power in the new York City Department of corrections and their Main Objective is ensure that correction officers are slashed on a daily basis, stabbed on a daily basis, sexually assaulted on a daily basis, and nothing happens to them. I believe were on the right track to reduce the use of force properly and to get away from things like punitive segregation. By the way, the city says the department of corrections new use of force policy was also drafted with significant contribution from uniformed members of staff, including the unions and the board of correction. Joining us this morning to talk about all this, Norman Seabrook hes president of the Correction Officers Association and ray calderon, who was assaulted by inmates at rikers. And you saw his picture there. Ray, were gonna begin with you. How are you feeling right now . Healing. The whole ordeal is stressful. Knowing that its still dangerous on Rikers Island these inmates planned the attack makes it even worse, you know. Norman seabrook hes trying to help us. Hes trying to help the city and the correction department. You knew it was a dangerous job, though, for a long time, right, before this . Right. We do. We do know its a dangerous job, but, at the same time, its becoming common. We know that we can be put in dangerous positions. But now every day, it seems more and more its you go to jail and youre assaulted. Are you back on the job . Not yet, no. I am taking my time off to heal, mentally and physically, and ill return when im ready. Do you want to go back . You want the truth . No, i dont. Its dangerous, its out of control, and its not safe. Its just not safe to return to work in those conditions. Norman seabrook, we need young men like him to be you hear, he doesnt want to go back. Well