Terraine is the mother of a 17-year-old son. She is a veteran. She has been homeless since May of 2015. She has stayed in temporary locations and shelters in every borough except Staten Island, and she has spent a few of those months on the street sleeping in her truck. During the warm weather months, she sells nonalcoholic beverages in front of the Brooklyn Public Library location at Grand Army Plaza. This year should’ve been a great year for her business.

“Because of homelessness, I couldn’t take advantage of this nice weather,” she told the AmNews.

Some elected officials and advocates hope to turn the tide for New Yorkers such as Terraine.

Last week, New York City Council Member Ydanis Rodríguez held a rally in Inwood. With New York State Sen. Adriano Espaillat, New York State Assembly candidate Carmen De La Rosa and members of Picture the Homeless at his side, Rodríguez wanted to highlight the abundance of empty lots and vacant apartments in the city.

Rodríguez believes that landlords are sitting on these empty apartments and preventing people from finding a place to live.

“This a matter of safety issue,” said Rodríguez at the rally. “This is a matter of health issues. This is a matter about protecting our working class and our middle class.”

Rodríguez has looked to address the housing issue head on. Working with fellow Council Member Jumaane Williams and New York City Public Advocate Letitia James, he has co-sponsored a package of bills known as the “Housing Not Warehousing Act.” These bills will make it so that the city must count all vacant land and property annually (something that Picture the Homeless does on its own), owners must register properties as vacant or face fines and owners must keep a list of vacancies to determine which ones are conducive to developing affordable housing.

These developments can’t come soon enough for homeless New Yorkers who have to tolerate the shelter system in order to have a roof over their heads.

“We have respiratory illnesses,” said Terraine when speaking about her and her son’s plight. “And the conditions of the places they sent us were so dirty and filthy. Then there was the violence, the threats and the sexual harassment. Some of the people who live in the neighborhoods these shelters are in? They have nice dogs. I know these wouldn’t let their dogs live in these shelters.”

One recent city initiative that has drawn the ire of residents is housing the homeless in hotels in certain neighborhoods. In Queens, in particular, residents in Maspeth and Elmhurst have had multiple rallies, protests and hearings to voice their opposition to the city’s actions.

Last month, Maspeth residents marched to the home of Harshad Patel (who owns the Holiday Inn Express in Maspeth) to protest “warehousing” the homeless on his property and in their neighborhoods. The following month, Maspeth residents linked up with residents from Elmhurst and community groups in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, to rally outside of a Brooklyn hotel that “warehoused” the homeless.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio responded to those protests by saying that all New Yorkers had an obligation to make their city better by helping one another.

“This administration believes that every community must share responsibility in housing homeless New Yorkers, and because the most effective tool against homelessness is preventing it in the first place, we’ve increased the number of tenants who’ve avoided eviction by 24 percent,” said the mayor in a statement. “An additional 45,000 residents have either exited or avoided shelter through our programs, and we’re building new affordable apartments in Sunset Park such as the Sunset Park Library project through partnerships with local elected officials.”

De Blasio doubled down during a recent interview on the radio station Hot 97.

“Every community has to be part of the solution. And I understand why people get concerned, but rather than attacking the very people who are suffering—and you’re exactly right, people who are working, you know, more and more the folks in the shelter are working people, or people who recently had a job and are trying to get another one,” said the mayor. “What’s happening nowadays is that homelessness is an economic phenomenon—it is because the rent is too high and wages are too low.”

Shelly Nortz, deputy executive director for policy for the Coalition for the Homeless, considered the homeless hotels necessary until more permanent homes for the homeless are erected.

“Until there is enough affordable and supportive housing for all homeless New Yorkers, the City will have to continue finding enough shelters beds for those in need,” said Nortz in a statement to the AmNews. “The temporary use of hotels, while far from ideal, is vital in order to keep this crisis from truly getting out of control. The unacceptable alternative is a city where men, women and children are left to fend for themselves on the streets or in makeshift encampments—like in so many other cities around the country. We, as a community of compassionate neighbors, are better than that.”

Although New York City Council Member Andy King believes in compassion, he also believes in practicality. The elected official explained that he thinks de Blasio went about this process the wrong way and failed to communicate with some important people.

“If the mayor is going to continue on this path, he has to figure out innovative ways to combat it,” King said. “He needs to sit down with council members to talk about how to improve the situation. A lot of times your best experts are the people walking those streets. You can’t just take a cookie cutter approach and think that’s gonna solve everything.

“That’s why he’s had issues with a few of my colleagues in government,” King continued. “We have to recognize how people become homeless and not throw people into the same pot. Some people have mental challenges and need extra help. Some work, but don’t make enough money to pay rent. If you tell a person to get on the train and go to a community they aren’t familiar with, a lot of things can happen between point A and point B.”

King suggested that the city create housing for different types of homeless people so those who work aren’t worried about being “knocked upside the head” by others. He also said the city should take housing stock and deal with delinquent landlords who keep housing dilapidated in certain neighborhoods. “You don’t always have to find new land and build something brand spanking new,” he stated. “You can revitalize buildings that are already there.”

At a recent hearing on the homeless situation held by Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, New York City Human Resources Administration Commissioner Steven Banks noted that the homeless population increased by 115 percent since 1994. He attributed that number to the current housing climate in which 500,000 New Yorkers face the potential of being evicted and three out of 10 New Yorkers who rent spend more than 50 percent of their income on rent payments.

While elected officials and residents of New York neighborhoods are fighting among themselves over the homeless “problem,” people such as Terraine will attempt to get through the day unscathed.

“It feels terrible. It feels like a death for me,” said Terraine. “I was born and raised in Bed-Stuy. To come home to my roots and find I’m no longer wanted, it’s a slap in the face. You would have no money staying in this vicious cycle because of racism, intimidation and gentrification.”