Mayor Bloomberg took control of the city’s homeless services system Wednesday after more than two decades of court oversight.

The Department of Homeless Services had been under court supervision since 1983, when a judge ruled that the city wasn’t doing enough to guarantee every homeless person’s right to shelter.

“It inevitably created delays, impeded change and stifled innovation,” said Bloomberg of the court supervision.

Staffers were subject to 40 rules ranging from what baby formula they could serve in shelters to how investigations of clients were conducted.

The settlement, which preserves a right to shelter, is a stamp of approval on the mayor’s homeless policy reform.

Still, the Legal Aid Society, which defended families in the suits, warned that more work needs to be done.

“No system is perfect. And there are certainly problems that everyone is committed to address,” said Legal Aid Society chief attorney Steven Banks.

“What this agreement does is give a legal framework to protect families in the future if the efforts that are underway don’t work.”

The city had argued that it had successfully overhauled emergency shelter intake centers where families once slept on floors.

“The power of the suffering there never failed to stun me,” said Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs, the former commissioner of Homeless Services.

But the city has fallen short of its goal to reduce the homeless population – which stands at 30,000 people a night in shelters – by two-thirds.

DHS Commissioner Robert Hess said it’s too soon to say if the crippling economy will lead shelter numbers to skyrocket, noting: “This is not an area where we really like to see new business.”

Source: NY Daily News