Homelessness, high rents, crime concern New Yorkers, survey says

NYC Speaks survey overview

NYC Speaks, a short-term civic engagement organization, interviewed a diverse group of 62,000 New Yorkers from every borough.

NEW YORK - New Yorkers always have plenty of opinions about how to fix the city.

Now a new survey shows exactly what's bothering them most. A majority of those interviewed say reducing homelessness and increasing affordable housing would improve the quality of life here.

NYC Speaks, a civic engagement organization, interviewed a diverse group of 62,000 New Yorkers from every borough. Dr. Shango Blake, the co-executive director, said the same issues came up over and over.

"To have housing and improved housing, to reduce homelessness and make rent affordable was where New Yorkers leaned in," Blake said.

NYC Speaks plans to take the information from the survey and conversations in the community and turn over the material to the administration of Mayor Eric Adams.

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During a recent NYC Speaks rally, Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright said Adams plans to include New Yorkers' input when it comes to creating policies.

"The community knows what the problems are and the community knows what the solutions are," she said at the rally.

The survey also showed New Yorkers want to see more police around but they don't necessarily want them to handle mental health cases.

All this comes as the mayor has implemented some controversial policies like creating the anti-gun unit that critics say brings back an unpopular policy known as stop-and-frisk. The mayor has also started breaking up homeless encampments to mixed reviews. So whether his current policies align with the results of this survey remains to be seen.