New York Tightens Shelter Policies

But advocates say the city still makes too many mistakes. Steven Banks, a lead attorney with the Legal Aid Society, said that in 2006, 51.8 percent of all families deemed ineligible subsequently were found eligible.

Over the summer, homeless families ruled ineligible for a placement of several months in a shelter began to mill around a courtyard in front of the intake center to ask the staff for beds for one night. The adults sat on benches while their children did homework, played video games or ran around the concrete yard.

Sometime between 7 p.m. and 2 a.m. they would be transported to a shelter for a single night's stay, the children falling asleep on the buses. At 7 a.m., the buses would bring the families and all their possessions back to the intake center, where many would start the process all over again.

But last month, the city stopped providing the one-night stays, saying that the families are not truly homeless because they can stay with relatives or friends.

"If the family is found ineligible for shelter because they have another housing option, what we say to that family is, 'Look, go home,' " said Robert Hess, the commissioner of the Department of Homeless Services.

Since the new policy was enacted, 146 families have been ruled ineligible for shelter, and 24 have been denied overnight stays, according to the agency.

Many may have returned to the crowded apartments of friends and relatives. But others outside the intake center on a recent night said they had slept in a hospital emergency room, on the subway, in a fast-food restaurant and on the basement floor of a church.

On each of three nights a reporter visited the intake center, a few people emerged from the building and said they had been rejected for an overnight but had nowhere else to go. Homeless advocates worked the phones, asking agency officials to reconsider.

Meanwhile, members of the clergy were meeting with city officials on the issue. Outraged council members called a hearing. There, Don Allen Sr. testified that he had nowhere to go and had slept on the floor of a church with his two sons.

"If me and my sons did have someplace to go, we'd go there -- it's that simple," said Allen, weeping before the silent crowd.

"I'm here to say I'm sorry," said council member Jessica Lappin, who represents the Upper East Side, one of Manhattan's wealthiest areas.

Commissioner Hess said that changes in eligibility reflect changes in people's life circumstances, not mistakes by the agency.