Christine C. Quinn, a former speaker of the New York City Council, has been named the leader of a nonprofit organization that is one of the city’s largest providers of services to homeless women and children.
Ms. Quinn’s new job with Win, or Women in Need, plunges her into the public debate over homelessness, as Mayor Bill de Blasio, her onetime rival, isgrappling with a more visible homeless population and a shelter system with little room to spare.
After reaching a record of nearly 60,000 people last winter, the homeless population in the city has dipped slightly, but that decline has done little to allay concerns among officials, social services organizations and others.
As of Wednesday, 57,206 people, including more than 23,000 children, were in the city’s shelter system, up from about 53,000 at the end of the administration of Mr. de Blasio’s predecessor, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. Win’s shelters, which are part of that system, house about 3,900 homeless women and children at 11 sites.
In an interview, Ms. Quinn said that she was passionate about taking on such a high-profile role, but that she was also “a little bit nervous.”
The organization’s charge stretches beyond traditional shelters. By helping women with employment, education and other needs, the group works to move women and their children into transitional housing and eventually permanent housing. “That is an awesome responsibility,” she said.
Although she was one of Mr. de Blasio’s opponents in the 2013 Democratic mayoral primary, Ms. Quinn said she was looking forward to a more cooperative relationship in her new role. She said Mr. de Blasio and his administration appeared to be doing the best they could with a crisis “they inherited and had on their doorstep on Day 1.”
Ms. Quinn, who starts on Nov. 2, is replacing Bonnie Stone, who is retiring after leading the organization for about 15 years. Win would not immediately reveal Ms. Quinn’s salary.
The group has credited Ms. Stone with expanding the organization and increasing its funding levels. In 1983, Win and the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Manhattan opened a shelter that housed four women and their six children. The organization now has 500 employees and 400 volunteers. It placed 750 families into permanent housing last year, and serves more than 11,600 people annually.
Win has an estimated annual budget of $70 million. The bulk, about $54 million, comes from city funding, while it raises about $7.5 million in private donations. The remainder of its budget comes from a mix of state and federal funding.
Ms. Stone, 70, has been long been a voice in finding solutions for homelessness. She previously served as deputy administrator of the city’s Human Resources Administration and as a deputy assistant commissioner and a deputy commissioner of the city’s health department, running the chief medical examiner’s office.
Ms. Stone and Jaqui Lividini, chairwoman of the Win board, described Ms. Quinn as a good fit for an organization looking to maintain and increase its funding as it seeks to create more affordable, permanent housing for women and children.
Ms. Lividini said in an interview that Ms. Quinn was passionate about eradicating homelessness and knew how to navigate government.
Ms. Stone, in her statement, called her successor “a terrific choice to guide Win successfully into the future.”
“She has the expertise and experience, not to mention the brains and the brawn, necessary to lead the charge on one of the most challenging issues facing the city today,” she added.
Ms. Quinn has less experience dealing directly with homelessness, but as Council speaker she had an impact on the issue in 2011, when she led the panel in a successful lawsuit against Mr. Bloomberg. At that time, the Homeless Services Department had instituted a policy that required homeless single adults to prove they had nowhere else to go before the city would provide them shelter.
Ms. Quinn said the action was “wrongheaded” of Mr. Bloomberg, a political independent, and added that she remained proud of her stance.
Ms. Quinn left government after losing her mayoral bid in 2013, but she has continued to stay in the public eye as a special adviser on women’s issues to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat. She said she had been completing a fellowship at the Institute of Politics at Harvard University when she heard that the Win job would be opening up, and she had been subsequently contacted by a headhunter.
She has come full circle with the new post, she said, because her first job was as a housing organizer for poor and homeless people. She said she first encountered Win in the early 1990s as chief of staff to Councilman Thomas K. Duane, who had supported more city funding for the organization.
Ms. Quinn said she was hoping to maintain the good work of Ms. Stone and her staff while focusing on a holistic approach to Win’s clients. She said many of the women were escaping domestic violence, dealing with eviction, and handling other issues.
“Those are problems that don’t disappear,” she said. “They don’t disappear the moment you get a lease.”