CITY HALL — The majority of voters have said they don't believe Mayor Bill de Blasio is doing a good job of handling homelessness — but they still think he's doing a better job than on-again, off-again rival Gov. Andrew Cuomo, according to a Quinnipiac University poll.
The poll found that 33 percent of voters think de Blasio is doing a better job at handling homelessness, compared to 28 percent who think Cuomo is doing a better job. Another 39 percent of voters are undecided.
Overall, however, Gov. Andrew Cuomo's approval rating tops that of de Blasio, by a margin of 65 percent to 29 percent. De Blasio's approval rating is 50 percent to 42 percent.
“Despite the home court advantage, Gov. Andrew Cuomo outpoints Mayor Bill de Blasio among city voters,” Quinnipiac University Poll Assistant Director Maurice Carroll said in a statement.
“But these same New York City voters think de Blasio does better than Cuomo managing the homelessness problem, the issue on which the two leaders have been sparring."
Homelessness has been a hot topic in the ongoing feud between de Blasio and Cuomo. The governor's staff has said that de Blasio is incapable of managing the homelessness crisis while de Blasio has blamed the governor's decision to cut a successful rental subsidy program during the Bloomberg administration with sparking the increase in homelessness.
The city's current shelter population hovers near a record high at 58,155 people, including over 23,000 children, according to the most recent census.
Cuomo strongly criticized de Blasio in the weeks leading up to his State of the State address. The governor issued an executive order saying all municipalities must force homeless people into shelter when the temperature drops below 32 degrees.
Cuomo was also quoted as saying that a rise in street homelessness was due to the fact that the city's shelters were dirty and dangerous.
"It has also been well established that many of our shelters are unsanitary and unsafe," Cuomo said during his State of the State speech. "People have been attacked and victimized in some shelters. And some would rather stay outside in the frigid cold than risk injury and they are right to do it."
The governor assigned potential de Blasio challenger Comptroller Scott Stringer to inspect the city's shelters, a power he already has and has utilized, and promised to assign police to shelters deemed unsafe or to close down or transfer control of shelters that are unsanitary.
De Blasio said he welcomed the additional state resources to deal with homelessness and that the plan "could be very consistent with our goal of making sure that every shelter is fixed."
On Monday, before marching in a Martin Luther King Jr. Day protest, Cuomo said he and de Blasio were working together to deal with the homelessness crisis via the $10 billion affordable housing plan he announced in his address.
"I'm elected, I represent the city. The mayor represents the city. We want to do the best for the city," Cuomo said.
Voters, in an earlier Quinnipiac University poll, thought the city could be doing more to help the homeless and disapproved of the way de Blasio was handling homelessness.
