The number of homeless people in New York City has reached a modern high of almost 60,000, according to a report on Monday from WNYC , as Mayor Bill de Blasio struggles to contain a chronic problem he inherited.

During Michael Bloomberg's term as mayor, the number of homeless in the city soared more than 70%, reaching a record high of 53,000, according to the advocacy group Coalition for the Homeless.

Before he took office as Mayor, de Blasio had indicated his commitment to tackling the problem with a new approach. "We have the highest number of people in shelter in the history of this city," he said on Dec. 12, 2013, "the highest number in the city-run shelter system ever, the highest number of people who are homeless in any sense literally since the Great Depression, and it simply can't continue."

"So we will address the problems in the shelter system and we will take a very different approach," he said.

But de Blasio's efforts are still struggling against the continuing surge.