Corona and Elmhurst families face major health and housing obstacles: report

Immigrants make up a higher proportion of the population in Elmhurst and Corona than anywhere else in New York City. Residents participate in an annual Songkran festival, marking Thai New Year’s, in Elmhurst. Photo by John McCarten via City Council/Flickr.

By David Brand

Families and children in Corona and Elmhurst are facing significant economic challenges — including homelessness — despite high rates of employment in the region, according to a report published Tuesday by the Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York.

The report details the obstacles to economic opportunity in a region with the highest proportion of immigrants in the city. Children lack basic supports, including affordable housing and behavioral health services, CCC found.

“The cultural richness of Elmhurst/Corona is exactly why families are drawn to New York City, but hard-working people are facing far too many barriers to making ends meet,” said CCC Executive Director Jennifer March. “Affordable housing, high quality child care and after-school programs, behavioral health supports, among others, are the basic resources parents are desperately seeking to achieve stability and economic mobility.”

More than half of Elmhurst-Corona residents are Latinx, and roughly a quarter are Asian. A disproportionate number of residents rent rather than own homes and roughly 60 percent of Elmhurst and Corona children live in or near poverty, CCC found.

A lack of affordable housing is driving a homelessness crisis across the city, where families with children account for the majority of people staying in New York City Department of Homeless Services shelters. Tens of thousands of other homeless families lived doubled up, sharing space with family members, friends of other people — a particular problem in Elmhurst and Corona, the report found.

The homelessness crisis is also evident in state education data. School District 24, which includes Corona and Elmhurst, accounted for more than a quarter of the roughly 20,000 Queens schoolchildren who were homeless at some point last year, according to state reports examined by the organization Advocates for Children of New York.

At least 5,264 students in School District 24 were homeless at some point last school year, according to the state data.

Tuesday’s report, titled “Elmhurst/Corona, Queens: Community Driven Solutions to Improve Child and Family Well-being,” was the result of a year-long community assessment by CCC.

“Families were deeply concerned about financial worries, overcrowded living conditions, and federal actions and policies that target immigrants,” said CCC Associate Executive Director of Research Bijan Kimiagar. “Throughout our conversations with community members, parents expressed a desperate desire to spend more time with their children and for services that are not only linguistically accessible, and intergenerational, but are offered in non-stigmatizing settings on evenings and weekends.”

The organization called on the city to create more affordable housing for local residents and to assist parents with accessing early childhood services. CCC also advocates for the city to work with community organizations to ensure a complete 2020 U.S. Census count to ensure that the region receives an appropriate amount of federal funding.