Friday, October 3, 2014

No room at the homeless inn


From NBC:

Homeless families with children were left to sleep in an intake center this week for the first time in more than a decade because of what officials are calling a "capacity crisis" in the shelter system.

De Blasio administration officials said they were unable to find appropriate shelter placements for five families who arrived late in the evening on Monday.

Instead of being sent to shelter units with beds and cooking facilities, as is required by law, the families slept on chairs in a basement lounge of a Bronx office building known as the Prevention Assistance and Temporary Housing office (PATH).

PATH is not set up as a shelter, and is intended only as a place to process shelter applications.

The city's homeless officials said they’re working hard to line up hotel rooms and open additional shelters to avoid a recurrence of families sleeping at the intake office. They said sheltering families is a complex process which can take several hours and that the families in question arrived after 10 p.m.

Complicating matters on Monday, they said, there were 90 vacant shelter units that had not been properly cleaned.

Another mother said she and her two children slept in their car on East 151st Street after getting tired of waiting for a placement.

There are more than 56,000 people currently living in the city's family shelters, an all-time high. And more families aren't just coming into shelter, they're also staying longer.

With an especially low vacancy rate for shelter units, the city has resorted to placing seven families with children in the Auburn shelter in Brooklyn, for one night each -- despite de Blasio's announcement in February he would no longer house children there.


All to benefit slumlord shelter owners. Nice!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

At the time, one of the most vocal critics of the practice was Councilman Bill de Blasio. Another key critic was Steven Banks, the Legal Aid attorney who fought doggedly on behalf of homeless families and is now serving as de Blasio’s welfare commissioner.

Easy to bark and run after the car, not so easy to figure out what to do with it when you catch it, eh, you stupid bleeding heart politicians?

Josh Goldfein, Legal Aid’s current lawyer for homeless families, told NBC 4 New York he couldn’t immediately say whether Monday’s situation violated those families' right to shelter under state law and court orders.
"Every homeless New Yorker who needs a placement should get one," Goldfein said, adding he’s "hopeful it won’t happen again."


And the cycle continues...

We're Queens - We Can't Have Nice Things said...

I do not see how it would ever be possible to move from homelessness into a NYC city apartment when most jobs pay about $10.00/hr ($400/wk gross/ $330/net) and most studio apartments rent at over $1000/month.

Aren't most homeless families single moms and multiple kids?

How does one then buy food and clothes after paying rent? And commute to work?

It seems hopeless.

Joe Moretti said...

We're Queens - We Can't Have Nice Things said...

I do not see how it would ever be possible to move from homelessness into a NYC city apartment when most jobs pay about $10.00/hr ($400/wk gross/ $330/net) and most studio apartments rent at over $1000/month.

Aren't most homeless families single moms and multiple kids?

How does one then buy food and clothes after paying rent? And commute to work?

It seems hopeless.
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You do what normal people would do in such a situation, you move to another area/state/city, where cost of living is low and one can make such income and not have to live in a shelter. There are plenty of places in this country to do that.

In reality if you are making under $50,000 (and that is for a single person) and that is pushing it, you really have no business being in New York City, the numbers will never add up for you.

For those who are going into shelters, something is just not right with that type of person, sorry, but it is true. Most people would do whatever is necessary before they would take themselves and their kids into such places.

Anonymous said...

It takes money to move, even a bus ticket out of town. It's sad that more and more people are being pushed out. I felt sorry for that little boy with the glasses. Bloomberg killed the city with nothing but "luxury" condos and nothing else.

Middle Villager said...

"Another mother said she and her two children slept in their car on East 151st Street after getting tired of waiting for a placement" If she can afford a car and insurance why doesn't she sell them to pay for the rent. I know plenty of people that do not have cars because they can't afford them. I guess the new homeless factories the City is resorting to will have to have parking lots as well. Also, notice how the main stream media picks up these type of stories just as many communities are banding together to stop these homeless warehouses from being placed in their neighborhoods(away from the revitalized areas). The DHS must have a good PR person.

Joe Moretti said...

Anonymous said...

It takes money to move, even a bus ticket out of town.

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I have said this over and over again, there is a huge time gap from living in an apt and then going into a shelter, it does not happen over night, so when you see things beginning, that is the time to pick and leave to another place. Just like the woman who slept in her car. Drive that car to another place that is cheaper.

There are alternatives before one gets to "homeless shelter" land.

Also your comment is takes money to move, IT TAKES MONEY to have kids. Should think that out as well.

Anonymous said...

I hope that this homeless warehousing issue continues to gain publicity--this is so OBVIOUSLY A MONEYMAKING SHAM!