"New York City's shelter intake system for families with children-known as Prevention Assistance and Temporary Housing, or PATH-is the single point of entry for parents seeking emergency shelter when they have nowhere else to go. Each year, thousands of infants in New York City are born into homelessness or enter the shelter system within their first year of life. According to the city's own Department of Homeless Services, once a family reaches PATH, the crisis has already begun."
"Babies do not experience instability the way adults do. Stress, displacement, and uncertainty in the earliest stages of life are not easily undone. So what is shaping these children-their nature, or the environment we place them in? When intervention comes only after eviction or displacement-after a collapse, a breakdown in the family-the damage has already been done. Timing matters. Prevention matters."
PATH serves as New York City's single intake point to determine emergency shelter eligibility for families with children rather than as a housing prevention program. Families must demonstrate crisis-level instability before qualifying, which forces many parents and infants to endure eviction, displacement, or collapse before receiving help. Thousands of infants are born into homelessness or enter shelters during their first year, exposing them to stress and trauma that can produce lasting developmental harm. Early instability is not easily reversed, so timing and preventive housing interventions are critical to avoid entrenched harm and to protect children's healthy development.
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