While most New Yorkers remain inside their own apartments during the COVID-19 outbreak, a potential crisis is building in the City’s shelters as elevated numbers of homeless seek shelter from the virus.

The shelter system – a decentralized, city-wide patchwork of facilities already strained under normal circumstances – is struggling to accommodate this influx while providing basic protective measures to protect its clients from the deadly virus. As of Sunday, 23 shelter residents have died in hospitals, according to The New York Times.

Despite Mayor Bill de Blasio’s vow to address the homeless crisis, recent years have seen the City’s homeless population grow as as rising rents have put housing out of reach for many of New York’s low-income families.

“When all of those systems simultaneously break down, you’re going to get this influx into congregate situations,” said Joshua Goldfein, a staff attorney at the Legal Aid Society. “It’s a time bomb.”