NEW YORK - The city's latest weapon in the battle against homelessness is now up and running. It's a new command center in Lower Manhattan that uses police officers and outreach workers to help convince homeless New Yorkers to come inside.
"They come around and they ask us if we want to go to a shelter, ask us if we're ok and that's it. And then they leave," said one woman who has been on the street for six months.
The woman is a victim of domestic violence so NY1 is not using her name. She has been asked by outreach workers and the NYPD if she wants to come into shelter.
Other city workers have tried too.
"Sanitation took a picture of me, without my consent and later on I found out by speaking to a supervisor that he then forwards it to the outreach program. Then I said it's alright, but he didn't tell me that. It made me very upset," she said.
It's homeless people like her the city is trying to convince to come inside.
The effort begins inside the new command center in Lower Manhattan, where officials from the Department of Homeless Services and the NYPD are coordinating to bring the homeless into shelter.
Mayor Bill de Blasio visited for the first time on Thursday.
"You've literally never had a unified approach that homeless services, police, everyone was working together to make sure they got a report of someone homeless on the street in need that an outreach worker got there immediately, or police, or both," De Blasio said.
The command center has only been online for about two months. It's staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
From just five desks, officials monitor referrals from other agencies on the ground who see homeless people on the street. They use the NYPD's more than 20,000 cameras to see where the homeless are then dispatch officers and outreach workers to go talk to them in real time.
Courtney Gross: Do you really think five people in a room can really make a difference?
Mayor de Blasio: Unquestionably. Five people in a room who can see exactly where the problem is in a any given hour in this city and deploy the resources right where they are needed and make sure that person gets the help they need. This can be revolutionary. I am confident it will let us get a lot more people.
It's too soon to tell whether the effort will work.
For now, the woman who NY1 interviewed on the street says she is staying put.
Courtney Gross: Is there any way they can convince you to come inside?
Woman: Not at this point. It's not safe. It's not safe.