Mayor Bill de Blasio recently announced that child safety and domestic violence in homeless shelters will be reviewed in response to the death of 3-year-old Jeida Torres. Last Saturday, Torres was allegedly beaten to death by her stepfather, Kelsey Smith, who was later arrested following a suicide attempt. The Torres family resided in a transitional homeless shelter in Brooklyn, which is managed by the nonprofit group Housing Bridge. This shelter’s social service staff members were unaware of the situation and were thus unable to prevent it. It is impossible to determine whether new procedures would have prevented this tragedy; however, the mayor’s upcoming investigation is the first step to making the city a safer place for the homeless.

The homeless rate in New York City has become an increasingly pressing issue, with a 13 percent rise in Brooklyn during 2013. Nearly 54,000 people use the city’s homeless shelters, including 22,000 children. In fact, family homeless rates have not been this high in the city since the Great Depression. The homeless rate has been increased by the double blow of a lack of affordable housing and virtually no wage increases for the bottom 80 percent of workers. This compounding issue has squeezed people with full-time jobs out of their own apartments and homes because even though their wages stayed the same, their housing costs continued to grow. Newly created affordable housing is inadequate and is often too expensive for the homeless.

Many homeless shelters, including the Housing Bridge shelter where Torres died, offer services for mental health and substance abuse meant to extend a hand to those who desperately need it. Domestic help and social services, however, are lacking in shelters not specifically oriented toward battered families. The Brooklyn shelter had only one social service supervisor for the entire staff.  Despite Smith’s history of violent crime, no investigation was made to determine his propensity for violence. The city’s Administration for Children’s Services only looks into individual cases if a report of suspected abuse is filed.

When considering Torres’ death in hindsight, as well as the plight of violence in shelters on a larger scale, the precautions that should have been taken seem clear. It begs the question as to whether greater oversight and social service presence would have kept Torres alive. One wonders why Smith was not removed from the shelter in the beginning. The frustrating reality is that the needs of the homeless are diverse and cannot sufficiently be solved through the current system. No single formula will help every individual and structural shortcomings further complicate the process. Ultimately, New York City shelters can help by gathering knowledge on how to effectively care for the needy. Hopefully, de Blasio’s investigations will uncover useful answers.

A version of this article appeared in the Wednesday, Oct 22 print issue. Email the Editorial Board at [email protected].