Homeless Families
One hundred years ago today … New York City had a homelessness problem.
One proposed solution: Let them have a naval base. The March 27 Daily News reported that the city would consider having 3,000 homeless families spend the coming summer at the “cantonment” on Pelham Bay in the Bronx; the plan had been proposed by Fiorello LaGuardia, President of the Board of Aldermen.The paper printed a map identifying the place and a photo of naval soldiers leaving the decommissioned base.
The Daily News 27 March, 1920, p.8.
The Pelham Bay
There were 100,000 homeless families in the city, out of the overall population of 5.6 million, according to Royal Copeland, the City’s Health Commissioner (and a future US Senator).
By comparison, according to Coalition for the Homeless, in January 2020 there were 14,682 homeless families in NYC, whose overall population was roughly 8.6 million.
The Pelham Bay Naval Training Station, located on what is now Rodman’s Neck, housed over 4,700 sailors during the World War I years of 1917-1919.
Sentry at Pelham Bay Naval Training Base, Aug. 26, 1919. National Archives at College Park, MD. Brown Brothers.