It's not just a housing issue. It's a mental health issue. It's a substance use issue. It's an employment issue. Only when we finally recognize that there are multiple factors that require a multi prong approach, will we be able to show any progress.
3
I live near a homeless shelter. We share what might be called an "alley - a Rear Window type of situation and noise carries. Half of the homeless residents are fine, the other half are terrible neighbors. They place people with mental illnesses in this building but do not provide adequate treatment. We had the woman who shouts "OW! OW! You're hurting me!" every two or three minutes. They finally relocated her but it was nearly a year of this shouting. Now we have another guy who shouts "Ow!" but only every few hours. We had the guy who masturbated in front of the window at night with the lights turned on and no shades drawn. It was embarrassing to have guests over. We have the the guy who cackles madly, almost as often as the "OW!" lady but twice as loud. We have the lady who sits in the backyard shouting on her cell phone at the top of her lungs for an hour at a time. And we have the guy who must be partially deaf because he blasts his radio so loudly that I can hear the DJ and this goes on until 2:00 a.m. or later.
None of these people are dangerous, except for possibly the masturbator who was kicked out. But they aren't good neighbors. I’d like to be able to watch a movie in my own apartment without having to pause it constantly until the mentally ill people in the backyard settle down. Working-class people should have a shot at these apartments. Those without an income should be housed in dormitory-style group homes with an on-site social worker.
None of these people are dangerous, except for possibly the masturbator who was kicked out. But they aren't good neighbors. I’d like to be able to watch a movie in my own apartment without having to pause it constantly until the mentally ill people in the backyard settle down. Working-class people should have a shot at these apartments. Those without an income should be housed in dormitory-style group homes with an on-site social worker.
20
As a lifelong New Yorker it truly saddens me to see more and more people sleep on sidewalks and panhandle for whatever reason. This problem is only exacerbated by the ever increasing cost of living. One solution would be to build affordable housing along with medical and job training facilities in upstate New York where the land is cheap and an environment conducive to a healthy lifestyle greatly needed by those in need
10
Unfortunately your solution doesn't take into account those who are homeless, or, near homeless -- but who are working, and don't suffer from substance abuse, or other problems that require medical treatment.
And that's the problem with the common perception that one must be afflicted in some kind way in order to be homeless, when more often than not -- it's a matter of dollars and cents.
And that's the problem with the common perception that one must be afflicted in some kind way in order to be homeless, when more often than not -- it's a matter of dollars and cents.
4
Gosh this problem is so much bigger than Steve Banks. People say X is the solution or Y is the solution -- but ultimately none of those proposals is anything but a band aid. The radical (as in:from the root) solution is to change the primary focus from providing shelter to providing mental health treatment to persons who most often are un-housable because of mental illness/substance abuse affliction which is not (or under) treated. To blame Banks for a problem that began with Ed Koch and took steroids under Bloomberg is truly unfair. I wouldn't say the "poor" will always be with us because this is not about being poor. For a large number of homeless it is about untreated pathology which makes whatever shelter we provide meaningless, Whether it's the Plaza or the Kings Plaza Motor Lodge, the result will always be crisis for large numbers of mentally ill/chemically addicted homeless.
7
last year I was dropped from EPIC (a NYS program to help seniors with drug costs but administered by NYC's HRA) with a notification my income was over the allowance. Checking with an advisor, It turns out my "proof of insurance payments" was overlooked. Over 20 attempts to contact a person failed (either the phone went unanswered or the voicemail box was closed) so I tried to reach 311. No avail. After some research, I discovered the administrative arm handling certification of welfare, etc programs had been outsourced by HRA under Banks so here was NO accountability for actions taken, including dropping people entitled to benefits. I wrote letters to the offices of Steven Banks, the City Advocate, and De Blasio requesting a review. Nothing. This Administration talks the good talk re income equality and supporting the poor and middle class, but does NOT follow through. No accountability! No caring! Hoping this city's problems concerning the underclass will disappear via neglect.
8
Banks has spent his entire adult life advocating for tenants and the homeless. Why would he change his stripes now? Without the homeless, what would he do? Instead, his goal is to provide free housing to all comers at public expense. He is happy to have more homeless people demanding more public resources. Besides, so many of the homeless have drug and mental illness, and Banks cannot solve that problem.
4
What this article fails to point out is that one of the reasons for increased demand for homeless services is that Banks's agencies have dispensed with many of the cruel administrative procedures used by 20 years of Republican administrations whereby the poorest in the city were denied needed services to which they were legally obligated in the name of reducing the numbers receiving public assistance benefits and homeless services. Without those ostensibly illegal policies, the numbers deemed eligible for those services rose from what it otherwise would have been. Those increased numbers require higher budget and agency staffing, which are obligations of the Mayor's office and his Office of Management and Budget. DSS does make its own budget or print money to cover the needs of its clients.
3
Round and round we continue with a relentless number of factors pushing people into homelessness.
NYC is one of the most creative places on earth. Given the money spent on a miserable system, break it down and try anew, esp for the kids stuck in this who are bound to fail.
NYC is one of the most creative places on earth. Given the money spent on a miserable system, break it down and try anew, esp for the kids stuck in this who are bound to fail.
1
Last year, the BBC or Al Jazeera had a special report on NYC homeless. What they found was that the city is paying certain landlords 2000 a month to house homeless in apts that arent liveable and not up to building codes - holes in ceiling, faulty electric, leaks, etc. There is so much $ being thrown at this problem, so where is it going, hmmn??? How about an article on that, NYT.
12
He had no intention to stem the homeless crisis. His goal was to bring more people into an already overburdened system, and therefore move towards his goal of providing free shelter to any and all comers, so from this perspective it has been a resounding success. The city is a mess.
8
Would you prefer that people, including families, live on the street, as they do in Calcutta? It may come to that.
3
This article seems to ignore root cause. Guess that is the way today, especially with the 'journalists' at the NYTimes.
NYC - eliminate the ability of anyone to own property in NYC and NOT pay taxes, regardless of how often they 'visit.' This will help with your constant revenue struggle. But not much with your spending. NYC officials need to cut the number of people hired - just make those remaining do more, with less. You don't need to be paid hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to go to dinners, golf, cocktails, and be driven in limos. Get behind a desk with your team and prioritize projects and work.
And, to prioritize projects, we're back to root cause. Why are there so many homeless in NYC. Double what was present just 4 years ago? It's not the recession of 2008, could it be that NYC promises to house anyone that needs housing? Hmmm. So, the city gives incentives to people to come, and then wonders why they came?
The answer isn't higher taxes for the middle class (some would say rich, as the middle in NYC is rich by other's definition). And it isn't just collecting more taxes from foreigners and others that own, but don't live or pay. It takes common sense, hard decisions, and a recognition that life isn't fair, not everyone can be appeased, and most cannot and should not live in NYC.
NYC - eliminate the ability of anyone to own property in NYC and NOT pay taxes, regardless of how often they 'visit.' This will help with your constant revenue struggle. But not much with your spending. NYC officials need to cut the number of people hired - just make those remaining do more, with less. You don't need to be paid hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to go to dinners, golf, cocktails, and be driven in limos. Get behind a desk with your team and prioritize projects and work.
And, to prioritize projects, we're back to root cause. Why are there so many homeless in NYC. Double what was present just 4 years ago? It's not the recession of 2008, could it be that NYC promises to house anyone that needs housing? Hmmm. So, the city gives incentives to people to come, and then wonders why they came?
The answer isn't higher taxes for the middle class (some would say rich, as the middle in NYC is rich by other's definition). And it isn't just collecting more taxes from foreigners and others that own, but don't live or pay. It takes common sense, hard decisions, and a recognition that life isn't fair, not everyone can be appeased, and most cannot and should not live in NYC.
8
Oh yeah sure. Families want to live in shelters. Rents are perfectly affordable, right? Anyone with a part time minimum wage job can afford an apt. Just go to the Bronx (one-bedrooms are close to $2,000 a month). Oh, they should go to college and become IT professionals! Or x-ray technicians. Right? Get serious.
2
A living wage + affordable housing + services for those who need them= at the very least a large drop in homeless families. Not easy, but not impossible either.
7
I remember Steve Banks work as a tenant advocate on the Upper West Side some 20-30 years ago. His was the sole name that stood out if you needed help or advise on a housing issue. It must be an extremely difficult challenge for him to move things forward in a positive way and I can only hope he will get help as he evidently attempts to satisfy the city's legal obligations to homeless persons and moral obligations -- the latter was so clearly his concern in the years when I looked to him as a beacon of light for housing questions on the upper West Side.
8
I am a long time city resident, old enough to have lived through the Dinkin's administration when violent crime and disorder made New York a very dangerous place to live. Dinkins was a nice man, but a lifelong machine politician without any real talent. New Yorkers were smart enough to elect two excellent Mayors after Dinkins. What followed was a 20 year renaissance in the city. But, people forgot what the consequences are of electing a political hack. Enter Bill De Blasio, a 50 year old man who never had a private sector job, and had a tough time getting to work on time. The result - Dinkins 2.0. To borrow from Peter, Paul and Mary - "when will we ever learn?"
16
Here I must strongly disagree with you, as I found neither Rudy Giulliani nor Michael Bloomberg to be the "excellent" mayors you seem to think they were -- And for reasons far too numerous to list in detail here.
Another thing.
It wasn't because of, or due to the Dinkins administration that New York was a "dangerous" place to live -- the city was in freefall way before you arrived here....And every native New Yorker knows that.
Another thing.
It wasn't because of, or due to the Dinkins administration that New York was a "dangerous" place to live -- the city was in freefall way before you arrived here....And every native New Yorker knows that.
4
Bloomberg and Guilliani made housing UNAFFORDABLE for all but the rich.
2
There were more then 2000 homicides a year during Dinkin's mayoralty. The vast majority of the victims were young black men. Thanks to Giuliani and Bloomberg, literally thousands of young black men are alive today because of Giuliani and Bloomberg.
12
Does NY have a ballot referendums like a California? Make it law no public housing unless you have been a NY resident for the past five years.
8
I was (and really still am) under the impression that Mayor de Blasio sought election as mayor out of a desire to help people in a city he loves. I have, however, been incredulous, and shocked, at some of the very inappropriate appointments (very political) he has made while in office (Most particularly Gadlys Carrion for ACS and Steven Banks).
2
It's really annoying to have to say this every single time there is an article about homelessness in NYC and people always ask why poor people live in such an "Expensive City". New York City has only recently changed it's image in the Bloomberg years as a city for the rich only. Judging from these comments the spin worked very well, But who do you think works in restaurants, provides childcare, takes care of the sick, etc? NYC is not just the tourist spots that you know about. For those of us born here, our life, family and community is here, we are not units that can be moved into one of the cheap places that you speak of where there are likely not enough jobs, and no public transportation. I wish I did not have to keep saying these things, but will probably have to millions more times in my lifetime.
14
The real victims are the children drowning in these chaotic lives. If a parent cannot care for their child, the child should be placed in a structured environment where they can at least get proper food and attend school. We need to bring back orphanages.
15
OH bring back Dicksonian measures! Orphanages! Maybe Work Houses!
1
Maybe Debter's Prisons too???... at least that's some kind of housing.
1
Zymere Perkins was beaten to death by his mother and her boyfriend. The mother chose not to send her son to school or give him a suitable home. With a shortage of qualified foster parents available, I support an orphanage system to give children a chance at a life. Although not ideal, our current system is broken despite the money spent.
7
Bloomberg's 12 years in office four of which were arguably illegal, created this crisis, it's ludicrous to think it can be fixed in four years. These NIBMY queens people would happen under any administration. Is Steve Banks perfect? no, would anyone be? no. Christine Quinn a bloombergian is ridiculous in thinking this would be better under her. For the city to fix this problem they will need real affordable housing for very low income, low income and middle income New Yorkers this cannot be solved by little 10% givebacks on luxury towers.
5
While he is partly to blame all can't be on his shoulders, NYC has always had homeless. Not sure what de Blasio's answer is but the homeless have always been in NYC way before Bloomie decided to run for office.
3
Hey, let's use Airbnb for the homeless! People make money to help with bills, homeless people get housed with access to cooking facilities. Nobody will know that homeless families are living in their neighborhood. Win win, right?
2
"Nobody will know that homeless families are living in their neighborhood."
Oh, please. That is exactly how Flatbush was transformed from a middle-class area -- with good helpings of upper-middle, professional, and working-class families of all colors and creeds living together peacefully -- into one of the most crime-ridden neighborhoods in the city.
It takes only a few subsidized dysfunctional people, with nephews, grandsons, and friends behaving badly, carrying on all night, urinating in the halls, smoking weed outside people's doors, and mugging a few senior citizens, to transform first an apartment building, then a block, then an entire neighborhood, into something our politicians will never have personally to contend with.
Women and children fleeing abusive husbands -- yes. Even so, there are dangers in that. Women who persist in having more babies after having been put into a clean apartment and then not having the wit to wash their dishes and avoid the inevitable scourge of roaches -- as featured in a Times article last year -- what's to be done? I do not know. But I have lived through the bad old days, and I know that some things do not work.
Oh, please. That is exactly how Flatbush was transformed from a middle-class area -- with good helpings of upper-middle, professional, and working-class families of all colors and creeds living together peacefully -- into one of the most crime-ridden neighborhoods in the city.
It takes only a few subsidized dysfunctional people, with nephews, grandsons, and friends behaving badly, carrying on all night, urinating in the halls, smoking weed outside people's doors, and mugging a few senior citizens, to transform first an apartment building, then a block, then an entire neighborhood, into something our politicians will never have personally to contend with.
Women and children fleeing abusive husbands -- yes. Even so, there are dangers in that. Women who persist in having more babies after having been put into a clean apartment and then not having the wit to wash their dishes and avoid the inevitable scourge of roaches -- as featured in a Times article last year -- what's to be done? I do not know. But I have lived through the bad old days, and I know that some things do not work.
19
"a crisis that was becoming emblematic of the mayor’s struggle to address income inequality."
Nice try. This is the [insert the largest ordinal number imaginable] example of the the mayors struggle to govern New York using political hacks and ideologues. It is just an abject failure of government and has absolutely nothing to do with income inequality.
5 points to the author for trying to stay on message, though.
Nice try. This is the [insert the largest ordinal number imaginable] example of the the mayors struggle to govern New York using political hacks and ideologues. It is just an abject failure of government and has absolutely nothing to do with income inequality.
5 points to the author for trying to stay on message, though.
10
Homelessness is the end result of capitalism which only wants to curry favor with the rich. Poor people be damned. If we really cared enough to fix this problem we would turn to candidates such as Bernie Sanders who attack the problem at its root. DeBlasio is just a slick motto maker wants the glory but lacks the guts to engage in honest dialogue.
9
Sorry. Saint Bernie didn't have the anwers to everything, and most certainly not answers to housing in New York.
He didn't even address the problem in a direct way while campaigning here, except for his usual Rich=Bad tirades.
He didn't even address the problem in a direct way while campaigning here, except for his usual Rich=Bad tirades.
7
Living wage jobs would certainly help. Free college tuition at public colleges would certainly help. Single payer health care and expansion of mental health services would certainly help. But, hey, let's continue to do nothing. Maybe poverty will disappear.
4
Well look at that! It is easier to complain about something than to actually do something about it. Seems like there is a lesson here.... I wonder what it could be
10
Part of the problem is focusing on numbers in the first place. Focusing on solving the problem of housing for the poor in the 1930's to 50's led to massive public housing projects, which we now recognize created the urban ghettos. Now governments are trying to "solve" the problem by finding ways to move 600,000 homeless people in large blocks to neighborhoods where none live. Should we be surprised at the pushback? Not at all.
Why can't we try what the advocates for the developmentally disabled did? Bring the homeless into a community 3, 4 or 5 at a time so that the community can see them as people, not numbers. When people see other individuals in trouble, most of them step up to help.
That this won't solve the problem quickly. That's impossible. What it will do, is create a climate of acceptance and empathy. Middle-class communities won't be nearly as afraid that they're being "overrun" by the poor and the slow pace of change may ( I say "may") accelerate. This strategy would, however, require that we enforce the building codes that require developers to build affordable housing -- and not by funding phony projects located away from their million dollar condo. They must place homeless people in real, small scale residences;even if in the buildings they are building;wherever and whatever they are. That's how those of us old enough to remember neighborhoods all over this city, lived in buildings with neighbors of many different stripes and colors.
Why can't we try what the advocates for the developmentally disabled did? Bring the homeless into a community 3, 4 or 5 at a time so that the community can see them as people, not numbers. When people see other individuals in trouble, most of them step up to help.
That this won't solve the problem quickly. That's impossible. What it will do, is create a climate of acceptance and empathy. Middle-class communities won't be nearly as afraid that they're being "overrun" by the poor and the slow pace of change may ( I say "may") accelerate. This strategy would, however, require that we enforce the building codes that require developers to build affordable housing -- and not by funding phony projects located away from their million dollar condo. They must place homeless people in real, small scale residences;even if in the buildings they are building;wherever and whatever they are. That's how those of us old enough to remember neighborhoods all over this city, lived in buildings with neighbors of many different stripes and colors.
2
Don't have time for that. What you're proposing would take years and years and you probably know it, which means you're making the suggestion in bad faith. In other words, the city can safely ignore your advice. Time to condemn a Trump building and move in the mentally ill homeless.
1
Mystified priceless paintings resting in climate controlled museum mansions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art while mentally ill homeless, exposed to various elements, shiver, wither, die.
9
Huh?
What on earth is this supposed to mean? Museums cause homelessness? We are all bad people for going to museums when there are homeless people around? You don't know the form of a proper haiku?
What on earth is this supposed to mean? Museums cause homelessness? We are all bad people for going to museums when there are homeless people around? You don't know the form of a proper haiku?
6
Perhaps priceless paintings are worth a lot more to society than mentally ill homeless people.
7
Is it really that mystifying? He's talking about priorities. Prioritizing the comfort and conservation of art works while our most vulnerable citizens suffer. And I doubt this commenter doesn't value art, he probably does - but it's worth considering what we value most in our city.
3
Noted in the article is the profit motive of some of the hotel owners. Bottom line, they made a bad investment or their investment went bad afterward. This is true with respect to two such hotels with which I am familiar. Neither has kitchen/cooking facilities, they are far from schools and lack access to public transportation. Using homeless moms with children and the neighborhoods where the hotels are located as a "bail-out" for their owners is unacceptable.
There are other workable models - e.g. several NYC charities own and operate supported housing sites for women and children, who are often victims of domestic violence. There are on-site ancillary services, school attendance is monitored, there is on-site day care etc. All of this costs money, and quite a bit at that. There is no "magic wand" to alleviate this problem. But, so long as there is a profit motive in the mix that will be the priority, not a long term solution.
There are other workable models - e.g. several NYC charities own and operate supported housing sites for women and children, who are often victims of domestic violence. There are on-site ancillary services, school attendance is monitored, there is on-site day care etc. All of this costs money, and quite a bit at that. There is no "magic wand" to alleviate this problem. But, so long as there is a profit motive in the mix that will be the priority, not a long term solution.
7
There will never be enough "affordable" housing in New York and the problem is altogether insoluble despite how politicians spin their supposed "accomplishments." Making housing a "right" in the city makes it such that if you build 10,000 units, more needy people will appear and will require another 10,000 units, etc. And if the city cracks down on all illegally subdivided housing units currently in use, the number of those who are homeless will will seen to skyrocket. And so it goes and so it will go perhaps until the media tire and go on to the next story.
11
This rampant homeless is happening in big cities everywhere in which developers are buying up land in cities, tearing down older buildings, and building high priced housing. It is happening all over California. What happens to our country when the poor, even the working poor who work in low paid service jobs, can no longer afford to live in our cities? Since when are cities only for the rich and middle class?
I am disgusted with businessmen and developers who are squeezing out the poor from cities. I have been following this issue in both the local press about the issue locally and in the NYT about what is happening in NYC. When articles appeared in the NYT about building developments in NYC, I could foresee the trend and that an intractable problem was going to develop.
I think about the novels of Dickens, who tried to raise consciousness of the plight of the poor in Victorian England. Does anyone read Dickens anymore? I fear not. As a world, we are regressing. There is increasing inhumanity and lack of compassion. There is increasing violence. Evil is being bred. It is depressing, our world.
I am disgusted with businessmen and developers who are squeezing out the poor from cities. I have been following this issue in both the local press about the issue locally and in the NYT about what is happening in NYC. When articles appeared in the NYT about building developments in NYC, I could foresee the trend and that an intractable problem was going to develop.
I think about the novels of Dickens, who tried to raise consciousness of the plight of the poor in Victorian England. Does anyone read Dickens anymore? I fear not. As a world, we are regressing. There is increasing inhumanity and lack of compassion. There is increasing violence. Evil is being bred. It is depressing, our world.
8
You forgot to blame the "businessmen and developers" for the rats and roaches. And the occasional missed garbage collection, and...
3
It's just another example of the ineptitude of Mayor DeBlasio and the individuals he selects to manage the city. He's a 'pay to play' mayor and I truly hope New Yorkers vote him out of office in the next election.
15
The Times writes a story about homelessness in NYC about every 18 months. I expect another one in a year and a half saying nothing has changed.
14
One possibility should be considered by NYC: invest in bringing empty NYCHA apts up to standard. Housing projects are not going away. Homeless families should have priority if they meet other criteria. Agencies need to work together/ pool resources. Far better than piecemeal expensive (hotels) solutions that haven't worked and do not serve the people of NYC.
3
(Not Mark) Do you mean if you have been waiting for housing for maybe years you will be bumped for a newly homeless family? That doesn't seem fair to me.
5
Elect people who pass laws that produce economic consequences. Pay your high taxes and be quiet or elect people who understand economic consequences. Paying $160 a night to keep a homeless male in a Holiday Inn Express is ridiculous. Using taxpayer money to keep 30 homeless males in a Holiday Inn Express at $160 per night each is criminal.
I hope the guests who book these hotels are notified that they are booking a facility that doubles as a homeless shelter. New York City doesn't seem to be concerned with the safety of families sharing a facility with 30 homeless males.
I hope the guests who book these hotels are notified that they are booking a facility that doubles as a homeless shelter. New York City doesn't seem to be concerned with the safety of families sharing a facility with 30 homeless males.
19
A very large number of homeless come from out of state are we now supposed to take of them as well? Another fine example of de Blasio's mediocrity. According to him NYC is an oasis low crime and awash in unicorns and rainbows. Hopefully he will be a one term Mayor, he is out of his league.
21
I would be nice for the article to have included suggested policies that HRA should pursue otherwise.
6
"Speaking to a civic group on Thursday, Christine C. Quinn, the former City Council speaker and an unsuccessful mayoral candidate in 2013, put responsibility for the problem squarely on Mr. de Blasio,..."
I thought New Yorkers had disposed of this Bloomberg puppet long ago. Is the MSM trying to resurrect one of them most disliked politicians in this town? Quinn heading up a group involved with the homeless is like the Koch brothers working to eradicate the effects of climate change after encouraging people to deny it exists. The irony of Quinn criticizing de Blasio is comical.
I thought New Yorkers had disposed of this Bloomberg puppet long ago. Is the MSM trying to resurrect one of them most disliked politicians in this town? Quinn heading up a group involved with the homeless is like the Koch brothers working to eradicate the effects of climate change after encouraging people to deny it exists. The irony of Quinn criticizing de Blasio is comical.
3
@Timshel: Yes, it seems Christine Quinn thinks it's time for her to make a comeback in public life.
I have a message for you, Christine: Forget it. We STILL remember (and will always remember) the way you sold out the majority of NY'ers just to make Bloomberg happy. NEVER VOTING FOR YOU AGAIN, EVER. Please stay in your well-deserved obscurity.
I have a message for you, Christine: Forget it. We STILL remember (and will always remember) the way you sold out the majority of NY'ers just to make Bloomberg happy. NEVER VOTING FOR YOU AGAIN, EVER. Please stay in your well-deserved obscurity.
4
@ L, here's hoping you don't vote the present guy in again.
2
"And a report issued by the Independent Budget Office this month found that among public school students who lived in shelters during the 2013-14 school year, almost a third missed more than 20 days of school, while another third missed more than 40 days."
Well, yes: the kids are homeless. Their parents have fallen out of society, taking their children with them. What's surprising is the children attend school at all. And how well do you suppose their children will do in life?
Well, yes: the kids are homeless. Their parents have fallen out of society, taking their children with them. What's surprising is the children attend school at all. And how well do you suppose their children will do in life?
4
@A. Davey: "Fallen out of society"? "What's surprising is the children attend school at all."? What you know about this topic relative to NYC is nearly ZERO. Your comment reads like it was made in the 1850's.
Maybe what you're describing is what happens in Portland, but here in NYC we are still actively grappling with the problem, however imperfectly. We haven't given up on people here, and adults have not given up on children getting educated. You know NOTHING of the efforts many families make to get their children to school every day, despite their circumstances.
Maybe what you're describing is what happens in Portland, but here in NYC we are still actively grappling with the problem, however imperfectly. We haven't given up on people here, and adults have not given up on children getting educated. You know NOTHING of the efforts many families make to get their children to school every day, despite their circumstances.
6
The real homeless problem is that the law requires the city to provide temp housing to anyone from anywhere. My ex sister in law was living in GA in 2003 in an abusive relationship. She asked her mother, also.in GA if she could move home with her kids for a while to get away from their father, and her mother advises her to come to NYC and go into.the shelter. Which she did. She was lucky and placed in a temp apt near Fordham road. She got a job and saved her money but the city had no real interest in helping her find perm affordable housing. They told her she had a job, she could get her own place. She was not.making much money at the time and her credit was ruined by her ex. She spent the next 10 years subletting one place after another, struggling to pay rent and.feed her kids. She would have been better off staying in GA. NYC is not an easy or.cheap place to live. All these homeless from.other states and our local homeless cannot thrive here without almost constant, significant financial assistance.
14
Your sister should have stayed in Georgia where it is far cheaper to live than stay in one of THE most expensive cities to live. New York has its own problems without having to worry about out of towners to house and feed and in your sisters case educate a child. Many of those homeless now occupying our sidewalks and train stations are from out of town.
6
Georgia should be cheaper, but it is not when NYC gives her free housing and Georgia does not; she made the correct economic decision.
3
More about root causes of homelessness... If you work and do it it well, you naturally expect to be paid in full and on time without exception. NYC Councilman has a bill he proposed to combat wage-theft that lacks sufficient teeth and hasn't been enacted into law. In fact, though the problem of wage-theft is quite grave, the City Council took its sweet time to even consider the idea of this bill and instead approved on their own to steal more from taxpayers by voting themselves an outrageous & unearned salary increase. By immediately passing a law that would compel the immediate closure of any business that engages in wage-theft, fraud, and retaliation, it would keep people in their homes.
New York City Democrats (of which I am one) take notice. This failure of a mayor is setting the stage for the next Giuliani. Two terms will certainly do it.
Time for someone else in 2017.
Time for someone else in 2017.
12
The image of white people standing outside a homeless shelter yelling "white lives matter!" then going back to their comfy homes just reinforces my belief that some people are too stupid to live.
3
(Not Mark) Yeah, the nerve of them, wanting to keep their neighborhood that they worked hard to own, nice and safe. There ought to be a law!
12
White people did not chant "white lives matter" outside a shelter. One idiot who wanted to cause trouble yelled it and was told to shut up by the crowd. It's sad that you so willingly believe the phony propaganda put out by the government.
11
I do wish Mr Banks well in what is surely one of the most difficult challenges in NYC today.
It's also a deliciously ironic example of how EASY it is to oppose, criticize and advocate for change as an outsider ( Mr Banks old role as lefty gadfly) and how difficult it is as an insider ( Mr Bank's new role as agency head) to actually get things done and effectuate change. Talk is cheap. Same rationale applies to BLM, etc. Rather than merely protest ( easy ), act to solve the problem ( hard ).
It's also a deliciously ironic example of how EASY it is to oppose, criticize and advocate for change as an outsider ( Mr Banks old role as lefty gadfly) and how difficult it is as an insider ( Mr Bank's new role as agency head) to actually get things done and effectuate change. Talk is cheap. Same rationale applies to BLM, etc. Rather than merely protest ( easy ), act to solve the problem ( hard ).
13
Societies that offer universal preschool education enjoy far lower prison and homelessness problems than does the US.
Both France and Denmark provide universal preschool education with teaching by college graduates.
The cost is a small fraction of the vast amount spent in the US for prisons and on the homeless.
As students enter kindergarten far better prepared and confident, their drop out rates are minimized and thus far more students graduate and become self-sufficient, tax paying members of society.
Both France and Denmark provide universal preschool education with teaching by college graduates.
The cost is a small fraction of the vast amount spent in the US for prisons and on the homeless.
As students enter kindergarten far better prepared and confident, their drop out rates are minimized and thus far more students graduate and become self-sufficient, tax paying members of society.
3
New York City is not a country and it has no border controls. It cannot provide a right to shelter unless it is prepared to house all of America's homeless in some of the country's most expensive real estate. There is no right for an unemployed person to live in the most expensive real estate, expensive because it provides a short commute time for busy, productive people. Banks is discovering that it is easy to make impossible demands but impossible to meet them.
12
A a terrific way to effectively stem the rising levels of homelessness in NYC would be to once and for all do something to insure that tenants in NYC Housing Court start receiving adequate legal assistance so that homelessness could be stopped before its even begun.
This is something that NYC politicians and judges have discussed for years, yet nothing ever really seems to change. Roughly 90% of landlords go to Housing Court with lawyers, but only 10% or so of tenants have legal assistance. This imbalance has time and again caused unnecessary evictions that might have easily been avoided. It's a much simpler affair to assist people with their housing problems while they still have a home. Once they are out on the street, and all has been lost, the road back is treacherous and unmanageable not only for those that suffer the loss of their home, but for all of us that live in New York City.
This is something that NYC politicians and judges have discussed for years, yet nothing ever really seems to change. Roughly 90% of landlords go to Housing Court with lawyers, but only 10% or so of tenants have legal assistance. This imbalance has time and again caused unnecessary evictions that might have easily been avoided. It's a much simpler affair to assist people with their housing problems while they still have a home. Once they are out on the street, and all has been lost, the road back is treacherous and unmanageable not only for those that suffer the loss of their home, but for all of us that live in New York City.
5
The housing built postwar saved my family and many others from living in miserable conditions. The Queens co-op apt. I grew up in--two bedrooms, eat-in kitchen--cost so little to buy, and had such low maintenance, that my mother was able to live decently even after a divorce when she had to re-enter the job market after many years out of it. It enabled me to buy a modest co-op apt. and support a family even with a crazy spendthrift husband. After divorce I could no longer afford to stay in NY even if I'd wanted to. But all my working life there--single, and through two marriages--I was able to afford modest but attractive places to live.
I was shocked and envious when my friend got her first apt., paying a breathtaking Manhattan rent for a Queens apt. with a little balcony--$450/month.
Yeah, gone are the days.
But do you really believe NY or any city can successfully find housing now for unskilled/troubled families of more than one child? Healthy societies are built from a partnership of citizens and government, where everyone understands what a social compact means.
It's easy to turn lovely neighborhoods into slums when people have no inner motivation to keep their neighborhoods clean. Why should there ever be urine in stairwells and garbage on the sidewalk?
You judge an animal's health by the way it grooms itself and maintains its environment. When people fail at that, they need more than affordable rents.
I was shocked and envious when my friend got her first apt., paying a breathtaking Manhattan rent for a Queens apt. with a little balcony--$450/month.
Yeah, gone are the days.
But do you really believe NY or any city can successfully find housing now for unskilled/troubled families of more than one child? Healthy societies are built from a partnership of citizens and government, where everyone understands what a social compact means.
It's easy to turn lovely neighborhoods into slums when people have no inner motivation to keep their neighborhoods clean. Why should there ever be urine in stairwells and garbage on the sidewalk?
You judge an animal's health by the way it grooms itself and maintains its environment. When people fail at that, they need more than affordable rents.
15
Not being able to take care of our homeless population is a sure bet, when you have policies that encourage every homeless person in the country to migrate to NYC.
What sense does it make to migrate the poor to an area where the cost of taking care of them is extremely high?
Why does de Blasio see gun control as a national problem, but poverty as a local problem?
And certainly, if de Blasio enjoys taking on a Herculean tasks, he should learn to get to work on time.
What sense does it make to migrate the poor to an area where the cost of taking care of them is extremely high?
Why does de Blasio see gun control as a national problem, but poverty as a local problem?
And certainly, if de Blasio enjoys taking on a Herculean tasks, he should learn to get to work on time.
5
To most people the only solution is to get rid of the homeless. Out of sight and out of mind. I find it despicable. If you have the gall to complain about somebody down and out as you walk to buy your morning bagel, something is wrong with you. Giuliani tactics and the broken windows theory are not solutions, they're only smoke and mirrors designed to keep the wealthy happy and the NIMBY's quiet. To the people in Maspeth and others like them, shame on you. Any one of us are a medical bill or life changing circumstance away from the street. Be grateful and leave the homeless alone.
7
Wait for the time when the homeless are sent in droves to your neighborhood. See how grateful you are! Don't be so quick to judge!
This move to Maspeth is the classic ploy of the rich. Have the middle class and the poor at each other's throats so the rich can go on their merry way.
I'm sure there are places in Park Slope, Brooklyn Heights, the Upper East side and the Upper West side which could accommodate the homeless but you'll never see it happen!
This move to Maspeth is the classic ploy of the rich. Have the middle class and the poor at each other's throats so the rich can go on their merry way.
I'm sure there are places in Park Slope, Brooklyn Heights, the Upper East side and the Upper West side which could accommodate the homeless but you'll never see it happen!
2
The Upper West Side more homless shelters and subsidized living facilities per square mile than any of the communities currently protesting rather viciously. You're not unique, this problem is one that affects us all. It's time communities like Maspeth and Sea Gate do their part.
3
Time after time we see idiotic liberal policies blow up in the faces of their crackpot inventors. Do these halfwits then reform their ways? Nah. Instead it's more of the same - see "obamacare" - which of course is the dictionary definition of insanity. As this city devolves back to dinkinsville under the "leadership" of morons like the current mayor, or any of the useless and costly jokes called the city council, residents will recall the safe, sane days when sensible and competent administrators ran things. P.S. They were not democrats.
14
These problems existed in the same magnitude or greater under Republicans too. Democrats may have failed to fix the problem of homelessness, but Republicans are renowned for not even trying.
1
The problem with homelessness is the word homelessness - it implies that the problem can be fixed by the provision of shelter, which it can't.
Homelessness is far more complicated than mere rooflessness; many of these people, adults, families, women and children, will have gone through intensifying processes of marginalization. These include dysfunctional family backgrounds, sexual, drug and alcohol abuse, many different kinds of violence, poverty, bad/non-existent education, etc. etc.
For maybe a substantial quantity of people designated as homeless, they cannot cope in a home and sheltered accommodation of an appropriate kind (as for the elderly) would be a better option until intense regimes of social care and support can get to grips with the underlying complex of problems, always on the understanding that these may be insoluble. People are not watches, to be taken to pieces component by component, and put back together again in working order.
From my experience of working in homelessness under the UK government's Rough Sleepers Initiative from the late 1990s onwards, governments don't want to know this - out of sight is out of mind, and the quicker you can get people off the street the better. Even when they fall straight back out again and even when the shelter isn't a shelter.
People, the homeless aren't the homeless - they're your brothers, fathers, sisters, mothers, aunts and uncles. They didn't come from Mars and they're not aliens. YOU are the homeless.
Homelessness is far more complicated than mere rooflessness; many of these people, adults, families, women and children, will have gone through intensifying processes of marginalization. These include dysfunctional family backgrounds, sexual, drug and alcohol abuse, many different kinds of violence, poverty, bad/non-existent education, etc. etc.
For maybe a substantial quantity of people designated as homeless, they cannot cope in a home and sheltered accommodation of an appropriate kind (as for the elderly) would be a better option until intense regimes of social care and support can get to grips with the underlying complex of problems, always on the understanding that these may be insoluble. People are not watches, to be taken to pieces component by component, and put back together again in working order.
From my experience of working in homelessness under the UK government's Rough Sleepers Initiative from the late 1990s onwards, governments don't want to know this - out of sight is out of mind, and the quicker you can get people off the street the better. Even when they fall straight back out again and even when the shelter isn't a shelter.
People, the homeless aren't the homeless - they're your brothers, fathers, sisters, mothers, aunts and uncles. They didn't come from Mars and they're not aliens. YOU are the homeless.
21
Thank you.
What is the solution?
What is the solution?
1
@Jon: This is one of the best & clearest comments on this topic that I have ever read. I agree with you 100%.
4
Jon,
I appreciate your focusing upon the fact that we use the term "The Homeless" as a convenient semantic delusion to cover what is, in reality, an omnibus problem. You also identify our tendency to sweep these citizens under the rug with an, as you put it "out of sight out of mind" celerity; never considering the many, many different lives, minds, physical or economic realities we cover with the one handy term. To my thinking we would do best to consider homelessness as a braid of many strands; untwist each each strand and appropriately assign each to a suitable entity; churches, fraternities, hospitals, schools, etc. In that way we could particularize the needs and aid required to reintroduce each to a productively (or at least endurable) life within society.
I appreciate your focusing upon the fact that we use the term "The Homeless" as a convenient semantic delusion to cover what is, in reality, an omnibus problem. You also identify our tendency to sweep these citizens under the rug with an, as you put it "out of sight out of mind" celerity; never considering the many, many different lives, minds, physical or economic realities we cover with the one handy term. To my thinking we would do best to consider homelessness as a braid of many strands; untwist each each strand and appropriately assign each to a suitable entity; churches, fraternities, hospitals, schools, etc. In that way we could particularize the needs and aid required to reintroduce each to a productively (or at least endurable) life within society.
1
Why don't they divide the homeless into homeless with jobs and homeless without jobs? Then work out a deal to take the homeless without jobs and resettle them someplace else, where housing is cheaper. I think homeless are being relocated from the Boston metro area to western Mass.
If someone who is homeless says that they have relatives or used to live in less expensive Place X, will NYC pay for them to return to Place X? If NYC would pay for return transportation and send a credit to get them started in housing in Place X, it could save money for NYC.
If someone who is homeless says that they have relatives or used to live in less expensive Place X, will NYC pay for them to return to Place X? If NYC would pay for return transportation and send a credit to get them started in housing in Place X, it could save money for NYC.
5
Back in 1988, as I was driving to California, I stopped at a gas station in Arizona. A homeless man was there, trying to hitch a lift east. I asked him where he was going, and he said New York City, because once he got there, all his problems would be solved. The streets of New York were paved with gold, he'd have no trouble finding work, and he would make his fortune.
While "the poor will always be with us", a disproportionate number of the delusional poor of the US (and even of the world) will always gravitate to New York. Like many others, they are just "following the money", even if they never get to see much of it. London is the same - people arrive there off the train from Glasgow with $10 in their pocket and no idea what to do next.
All a rich city like New York or London can do is cope as best it can with enough housing and services to maintain civilized standards, while trying to avoid the development of a culture of dependency, and becoming even more of a magnet. It's a Sisyphean task.
While "the poor will always be with us", a disproportionate number of the delusional poor of the US (and even of the world) will always gravitate to New York. Like many others, they are just "following the money", even if they never get to see much of it. London is the same - people arrive there off the train from Glasgow with $10 in their pocket and no idea what to do next.
All a rich city like New York or London can do is cope as best it can with enough housing and services to maintain civilized standards, while trying to avoid the development of a culture of dependency, and becoming even more of a magnet. It's a Sisyphean task.
25
It is absurd to have the same person lead NYC Human Resources and Homeless Services: that the two were combined suggests failure to understand how complicated the Homeless situation is. There's probably schadenfreude at Social Services as their chief critic gets heat trying to serve stakeholders, while complying with all federal, state and local regulations, case law and fiscal restrictions: homeless people, their advocates, taxpayers, schools, neighbors. Add real disruptions that come from having groups of unrelated homeless people gathered together in places that resemble urban refugee camps.
Mr Banks' chief responsibilities as a public servant really are to house the homeless in such a way that they become invisible, and to keep costs down. He cannot solve homelessness from inside Homeless Services: he may be able to better coordinate services, negotiate contracts, increase inspections and add security- if he has full support of the Mayor and City Council (and other city departments). But without building affordable -and public- housing - this will worsen. NYC can't ship people out, say to Sullivan County-as it once had with some groups . NY isn't unique, just huge. E.g. Westchester's homeless population is large, relative to the size of the population. Upstate counties are cheaper, but poorer, lacking in services and the tax base needed to provide them. Time for NYC to tap the enormous wealth of some residents to ameliorate the suffering of its most vulnerable.
Mr Banks' chief responsibilities as a public servant really are to house the homeless in such a way that they become invisible, and to keep costs down. He cannot solve homelessness from inside Homeless Services: he may be able to better coordinate services, negotiate contracts, increase inspections and add security- if he has full support of the Mayor and City Council (and other city departments). But without building affordable -and public- housing - this will worsen. NYC can't ship people out, say to Sullivan County-as it once had with some groups . NY isn't unique, just huge. E.g. Westchester's homeless population is large, relative to the size of the population. Upstate counties are cheaper, but poorer, lacking in services and the tax base needed to provide them. Time for NYC to tap the enormous wealth of some residents to ameliorate the suffering of its most vulnerable.
16
Wall Street banksters must keep their billions. It's each man for himself. We are no longer a society. But we have to hide the homeless so no one notices.,we must keep up appearances that we are a caring compassionate Christism country.
4
Obama: "Whatever we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation – at least, not just. We are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, and a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers."
2
Demand that the banks who issue mortgages to landlords foreclose on them if they violate the terms of the agreement like 65-60 Realty Company and randomly inspect properties they have issued mortgages for at least 6 times per year to determine whether they are being properly maintained and interview tenants about the landlords. Privatize the Department of Buildings, HPD, and DHCR to improve service, response times, and strict enforcement of applicable laws. Clawback the pay and benefits of the City Council, AG Schneiderman, etc. that have done nothing about the major problems facing NYC. By the way, I've talked with Steven Banks and Jonathan Lippman on 3/1 and since then about related issues without getting satisfactory responses from either.
"Demand that the banks who issue mortgages to landlords foreclose on them if they violate the terms of the agreement like 65-60 Realty Company and randomly inspect properties they have issued mortgages for at least 6 times per year to determine whether they are being properly maintained and interview tenants about the landlords."
Close. Change "banks who issue mortgages to landlords foreclose on them if they" to "government use eminent domain to seize properties if landlords", raise the inspection rate to (say) 20 times per year (harassment, negligence, and worse by landlords can be short-term too), and require working contact methods to call AND visit the landlord (enforced via government "mystery shopper" calls) or face seizure, and maybe it'll even work.
"Privatize the Department of Buildings, HPD, and DHCR to improve service, response times, and strict enforcement of applicable laws."
Wait. What? No.
We need less greedy law-hostile private companies involved in housing, not more!
Close. Change "banks who issue mortgages to landlords foreclose on them if they" to "government use eminent domain to seize properties if landlords", raise the inspection rate to (say) 20 times per year (harassment, negligence, and worse by landlords can be short-term too), and require working contact methods to call AND visit the landlord (enforced via government "mystery shopper" calls) or face seizure, and maybe it'll even work.
"Privatize the Department of Buildings, HPD, and DHCR to improve service, response times, and strict enforcement of applicable laws."
Wait. What? No.
We need less greedy law-hostile private companies involved in housing, not more!
1
Just do all that, and see how many landlords continue to do business in NYC.
2
How to solve homelessness instead of gripe about it is so simple. Attack its root causes and kill the lip-service. What does this mean? Let tenants get the lionshare of each and every violation landlords get issued following complaints from them about housing defects & lack of services. Use pet of the amount from those fines to pay for people who can'5 afford lawyers to be represented by them in housing court cases. Have every housing court case pre-screened to determine whether it's without merit and must be dismissed. Have a randomly chosen and independent group of people police housing judges for misconduct instead of the appellate courts and give that group both the power to immediately reverse decisions issued by any housing judge who engages in bias, other misconduct, or defies applicable law. Allow legal papers to be submitted both to housing courts and opposing parties via e-file and without the need for third-parties. Make housing court a 7-day operation with evening sessions. Use Eminent Domain to seize the buildings of landlords that continually violate applicable law.
7
I've worked in and around public agencies for years. Sometimes an outside advocate can transition to becoming a fantastic public agency administrator when given the post. Sometimes the transition just doesn't happen. It can be easier to stand outside, pointing fingers and being right, than being inside, working on reforms and systems change. It can be hard to tell who will be successful.
23
RE: For decades, using hotels as shelters has been widely seen as a desperate, sometimes dangerous, stopgap: It is expensive, and the hotels are neither designed to function as shelters nor have adequate security to protect residents. In February, a 26-year-old homeless woman and two of her three children were fatally stabbed while staying at a Ramada Inn on Staten Island where the city had placed them. Her boyfriend was charged with three counts of murder; he has pleaded not guilty.
This beyond laughable. Hotels are supposed to protect women from dating bums?
This beyond laughable. Hotels are supposed to protect women from dating bums?
18
What strikes this non-New Yorker is that in the world's wealthiest city there are 60 000 people with nowhere to live (and nobody to help them out except government. There are surely twice as many who are currently sharing inadequate shelters with relatives etc.)
As long as the 0.1% continue to drive up housing prices, nothing any mayor can do will solve this problem.
As long as the 0.1% continue to drive up housing prices, nothing any mayor can do will solve this problem.
27
Our five boroughs are, with the exception of the Bronx, located on islands. While we do have areas in which we can build more housing, it takes money. New Yorkers pay more taxes than most, much of which supports other, less productive (and less compassionate) states, particularly those in the South. Still, we can cough more up.
But the problem is more complex than that.
Some homeless people are completely non-functional; in the old days, they'd be warehoused in places like Creedmore and Willowbrook, and now they live in subways and on street corners harassing everyone who walks by and likely to end up in jail for stabbing people and pushing them into traffic. Others are youngsters from out of town, with guitars and blankets and sitting against walls.
Others, women and children, are in secret shelters trying to escape husbands so crazy that they even harass their wives' lawyers in Family Court. And some families will not limit the number of children they have. Sorry, but children are a responsibility, and birth control is widely available.
Some unscrupulous insurance companies won't cover procedures and raise rates. In those cases, people use up their savings and lose their jobs and their homes. These cases are very real.
And then there are those who can no longer pay ever-rising rent increases. But there really are still affordable neighborhoods in almost all the boroughs. Commutes can be long, but we do them.
Our problem is neither monolithic nor simple.
But the problem is more complex than that.
Some homeless people are completely non-functional; in the old days, they'd be warehoused in places like Creedmore and Willowbrook, and now they live in subways and on street corners harassing everyone who walks by and likely to end up in jail for stabbing people and pushing them into traffic. Others are youngsters from out of town, with guitars and blankets and sitting against walls.
Others, women and children, are in secret shelters trying to escape husbands so crazy that they even harass their wives' lawyers in Family Court. And some families will not limit the number of children they have. Sorry, but children are a responsibility, and birth control is widely available.
Some unscrupulous insurance companies won't cover procedures and raise rates. In those cases, people use up their savings and lose their jobs and their homes. These cases are very real.
And then there are those who can no longer pay ever-rising rent increases. But there really are still affordable neighborhoods in almost all the boroughs. Commutes can be long, but we do them.
Our problem is neither monolithic nor simple.
3
RE: Steven Banks Was Hired to Stem New York’s Homelessness Crisis. It Didn’t Happen.
Cities don't have homeless crises. People do. It is sheer stupidity to house poor people in one of the the most expensive housing markets in the world. Nor should they be housed in any high cost inner city - Washington, San Fran, Boston, etc...Many people with good / high paying jobs don't even live in town but commute. Why in the world do people in government think the taxpayer should pay to house poor in such high cost area?
The country is 3000 miles wide. Lots more affordable places for the poor to live than high cost markets.
Cities don't have homeless crises. People do. It is sheer stupidity to house poor people in one of the the most expensive housing markets in the world. Nor should they be housed in any high cost inner city - Washington, San Fran, Boston, etc...Many people with good / high paying jobs don't even live in town but commute. Why in the world do people in government think the taxpayer should pay to house poor in such high cost area?
The country is 3000 miles wide. Lots more affordable places for the poor to live than high cost markets.
69
Much of that 3000 miles wide area that Reader In Washington, DC, talks about for housing homeless people are very rural, hsve their own problems and do not need NYC homeless added to their burdens. Some will react, unfortunately, just like the mean spirited protesters outside the hotel shouting "white lives matter." The same goes for the homeless in other cities you mentioned. My city, San Jose, has a homeless problem. We are not going to "dump" them, these poorest human beings, in a rural area or in another state. They are our problem. As caring human beings, and not selfish self centered ones, no one has proposed what the obnoxious Reader In Washington, DC, has proposed.
Oh, whereas the "black lives matter" movement is about civil rights for black citizens, the "white lives matter" protests are about bigotry and racism in action. Big difference. Apparently, there are many in this country who do not understand the difference. It makes me feel sick to read comments like his and it makes me feel sick to read about how overt racism and bigotry there is in our country.
Oh, whereas the "black lives matter" movement is about civil rights for black citizens, the "white lives matter" protests are about bigotry and racism in action. Big difference. Apparently, there are many in this country who do not understand the difference. It makes me feel sick to read comments like his and it makes me feel sick to read about how overt racism and bigotry there is in our country.
1
I agree. New York City should build low cost housing for the homeless in Death Valley. No cold winters to worry about the heating bills and getting them winter clothing. I understand rattle snake is tasty.
All kidding aside what makes you think other states would want NYC's homeless, many of whom are mentally ill? No matter where you put them they will be a problem for authorities there.
And no matter where you put them they will eventually drift back to NYC anyway.
All kidding aside what makes you think other states would want NYC's homeless, many of whom are mentally ill? No matter where you put them they will be a problem for authorities there.
And no matter where you put them they will eventually drift back to NYC anyway.
4
The only problem with your analysis is that a chant of "white lives matter" never happened outside the hotel. One guy yelled it out, was told to shut up by the crowd, but the mayor's office decided to dub it into their video. It's amazing how the media and public are so easily swayed by propaganda.
12
Over the past 10 years, we've added nearly 500k people but only around 100-150k net new units, most of which were 1brs, despite having the second highest rents/housing prices in the city.
The reason for this is the unholy combination of rent controls, landmarks, aggressive zoning (with politicians to pay off), and 'affordable housing', which makes each 'free market' buyer essentially buy 20% of a unit for someone else.
It is hardly surprising that aggressive controls on housing supply are manifesting themselves as a a dearth of low-end housing, that homelessness is up 20% since our Mayor started his term, and that increased tightening of the housing supply have had a direct impact on the homeless population.
We cannot simultaneously continue to have aggressive and restrictive land use controls, and attractive city, and enough housing, so the solution should be obvious: either build a lot of new housing quickly, causing rents to fall, or make NYC sufficiently unpleasant that people will leave.
Sadly, our politicians are unconsciously choosing the latter.
The reason for this is the unholy combination of rent controls, landmarks, aggressive zoning (with politicians to pay off), and 'affordable housing', which makes each 'free market' buyer essentially buy 20% of a unit for someone else.
It is hardly surprising that aggressive controls on housing supply are manifesting themselves as a a dearth of low-end housing, that homelessness is up 20% since our Mayor started his term, and that increased tightening of the housing supply have had a direct impact on the homeless population.
We cannot simultaneously continue to have aggressive and restrictive land use controls, and attractive city, and enough housing, so the solution should be obvious: either build a lot of new housing quickly, causing rents to fall, or make NYC sufficiently unpleasant that people will leave.
Sadly, our politicians are unconsciously choosing the latter.
17
Rampant homelessness in New York?? This is really very easy to solve.
Build more affordable housing.
Or did you think everyone can afford luxury condos? -- because that's all that's being built these days.
Anybody familiar with the elementary laws of supply & demand knows that by keeping the housing market artifically low, the demand (and the rents) will continue to rise.
But the worst resut of this is now everyday working people are also sliding down the scale into homelessness.
Ever wonder why those so-called 'housing lotteries' don't work?
How can they when hundreds of thousands of qualified people are trying to get the same apartment??
This problem isn't a new one.
Just the ways to ignore it are.
Build more affordable housing.
Or did you think everyone can afford luxury condos? -- because that's all that's being built these days.
Anybody familiar with the elementary laws of supply & demand knows that by keeping the housing market artifically low, the demand (and the rents) will continue to rise.
But the worst resut of this is now everyday working people are also sliding down the scale into homelessness.
Ever wonder why those so-called 'housing lotteries' don't work?
How can they when hundreds of thousands of qualified people are trying to get the same apartment??
This problem isn't a new one.
Just the ways to ignore it are.
39
You can thank Bloomberg for the high end housing. Nice gifts to his fellow one percenters and developers.
1
(Not Mark) Oh please. If the city didn't have rent control and restrictive zoning you would have more affordable housing built.
1
@mark
Nice of you to chime in. But I must wonder what you actually know about the problem, seeing as you are in Texas.
Another thing.
I suggest you look a bit more extensively at the Rent Control Laws here in New York City -- They are the only things keeping millions of elderly, and hard-working New Yorkers from joining the ranks of the homeless on the street.
Nice of you to chime in. But I must wonder what you actually know about the problem, seeing as you are in Texas.
Another thing.
I suggest you look a bit more extensively at the Rent Control Laws here in New York City -- They are the only things keeping millions of elderly, and hard-working New Yorkers from joining the ranks of the homeless on the street.
3
At the subway stop on 74st JacksonHeights there is a gang of homeless people, drinking, smoking littering, sleeping 24/7 . An unpleasant site.
18
I live in Jackson Heights and frequently use that subway station. I haven't seen a gang of homeless people doing those things!
1
The city should focus its resources on families with children first. Adults can move away to a more cost effective place, but children suffer damage from living in substandard environments like hotels.
11
Further proof that saying something is wrong, even with a detailed destitute, is so very much harder than making something right, and keeping it that way. And that advocates order policy people or academics shouldn't be hired to run something very large and complex, no matter how much they've written about it, unless they have the requisite operational experience.
8
How is anyone going to help the homeless when we keep creating and importing more poverty via unlimited unskilled, uneducated labor, which competes directly against similarly situated US citizens? It is not rocket science. Open borders will continue to generate more homelessness. Bill Clinton's Bipartisan Commission on Immigration Reform in the mid-1990's acknowledged the same. Led by African-American Congresswoman Barbara Jordan (Democrat), they correctly predicted exactly what has happened. That same Commission stated clearly that all illegal aliens had to be deported and leave the country and that open borders were disadvantaging our own US citizens. This was in 1995. Too bad Clinton backed away from his own Commission's recommendations after Ms. Jordan's untimely death at age 59 (and the loss of her very moral, ethical leadership).
37
If there's a crisis with the homeless, then why did the city spend all that snazzy money to put in all those idiotic KIOSKS that line 1st and 3rd avenues (and others) to "charge your phone"? IN FACT, they are being used by homeless people on every corner to live, plug in, listen to music, watch TV, and generally take up residence on a mattress and maintain a plugged-in life? Why didn't they take all the money and use it for homes, for programs, for people? They claim that it's for "tourists" and "New Yorkers"-- nonsense. Each kiosk is a one-person homeless unit with a mattress or a chair or an overturned newspaper vending machine at its base, with a homeless person wired in. This is an outrage because it's a sham. ALL the funding used for that sham program could have been diverted to homeless people's lives and futures, instead of simply giving a few homeless people a kiosk to cling to. Mayor DeBlasio is corrupt and hypocritical and weak.
25
You're exaggerating ...Those kiosks are terrific the only folks sleeping beneath them seem to be Euro tourists ...
6
Why do these people feel they have to live in NYC? I live in NY, but I have never even been to NYC because the cost of a hotel room is so high. I would like to visit and see the museums and Statue of Liberty, but I can't afford it, so I stay in a less expensive place. There are lots of less expensive places in NY. It makes me sick to see hotels getting $160 a night. A one bedroom apt. where I live is $550 a month. Why do people who can't/don't work expect to live in such an expensive place and be taken care of?
86
1 bedroom for $550 in any location? Where do you live?
4
Within 15 miles of Ithaca, lots of small villages around here where housing is inexpensive. Ithaca itself is outrageous because of the two universities.
1
You sound like a very sensible, responsible person.
Unfortunately, as some people travel on their life"s journey they get derailed either by mental illness, drugs or accidents which cause them to lose their jobs. We can all use our imaginations to enumerate the many disasters which can befall human beings.
These people are to be pitied, not scorned. If you can't directly help them, at least send them some positive thought today because their lives are truly sad.
Unfortunately, as some people travel on their life"s journey they get derailed either by mental illness, drugs or accidents which cause them to lose their jobs. We can all use our imaginations to enumerate the many disasters which can befall human beings.
These people are to be pitied, not scorned. If you can't directly help them, at least send them some positive thought today because their lives are truly sad.
4
And liberals scoff at people when they merely "question" whether to allow more Syrian refugees or undocumented immigrants.. It's obvious we have our own indigenous refugee population here already. Let's find places for these people to live FIRST- and when that's done- we can open up our borders and allow as many million refugees your liberal hearts can handle. I am not anti-refugee, I am let's clean our house first to make room for guests. Anything less is impolite and uncivilized. And it can be done! If everyone chips in $50 dollars we can use that money to rebuild Detroit and house all of our homeless and the entire population of Aleppo. If not now- when? If not us-who?
32
Hilary wants to bring in 100,000+ Syrians, let's put them all in Chappaqua shall we? We can't take care of our own and these lofty liberal politicians want to house, feed and educate more. And who gets to pay?
7
The notion (actually it's the law, thanks to Mr. Banks) that any municipality is required to provide free housing to its residents is completely untenable under our essentially capitalist system. So it's no surprise that the NYC homeless situation is a constant crisis. I can't afford to live in New York City (because I no longer work there) and any adult who doesn't work in NYC should live someplace else (where housing is a fraction of NYC rates.) Actually Mayor Koch did the best job of any NYC Mayor in increasing housing stock, but that was done with private partnership. While it may seem very cruel in various individual cases, no one should have a "right" to shelter in New York, just as no one has a "right" to drive a BMW.
96
This is an intriguing concept. Are you saying that work and home should be linked? That would be good for teachers who work everywhere but cannot afford to live everywhere. I taught in LA for 7 years but tired of the long and expensive and dangerous commute from the neighborhood I could afford. Finally I relocated to a small town in the middle of nowhere, where I could afford to buy a cute little house walking distance from a very nice little school. Family and friends were aghast that I could live out in the middle of miles of cotton, rice and almond orchards, but it worked great. I don't know what teachers do in expensive cities. I tried and it was impossible.
7
There is no comparison between the right to own a luxury car and the right to having a roof over one's head. Our society will be judged by the treatment meted out to the less fortunate. Every American does have the right to shelter. This is a rich country. There is no excuse for the homeless problem. It is a blemish on us as a nation.
3
If you want people to go somewhere, give them a place to go.
It's that simple.
It's not just about a "Right to Shelter," it's about making sure the tens of thousands without anywhere to lay their heads tonight actually have a place to go to.
Housing is a human right. Driving a BMW is not.
It's that simple.
It's not just about a "Right to Shelter," it's about making sure the tens of thousands without anywhere to lay their heads tonight actually have a place to go to.
Housing is a human right. Driving a BMW is not.
2
When New York had a housing crisis during WWII the legislature responded with rent control laws and other tenant protections. In the late 50's they answered with massive urban renewal programs and a variety of subsidized housing plans for the middle class under the Mitchell/Lamma legislation.
But that was when New York was still a union city and most politicians saw themselves as the keepers of the legacy of the New Deal. Today most simply want to make a deal.
Landlords no longer feel the need to accept Section 8 vouchers as even poor sections of the city are being gentrified and landlords regularly use a host of schemes to 'decontrol' their units. The mayor's plan to have builders set aside affordable units is simply too little and his definition of 'affordable' even when implemented, is well beyond the income of the families that end up in shelters.
The only viable answer to the city's homeless crisis is an expansion of public housing. True, it's not in the political cards, at least not now, but the mayor needs to use his bully pulpit to be a loud and constant voice to remind Albany and Washington that public housing is precisely the answer to today's crisis. As Frederick Douglas said, power concedes nothing without a demand.
But that was when New York was still a union city and most politicians saw themselves as the keepers of the legacy of the New Deal. Today most simply want to make a deal.
Landlords no longer feel the need to accept Section 8 vouchers as even poor sections of the city are being gentrified and landlords regularly use a host of schemes to 'decontrol' their units. The mayor's plan to have builders set aside affordable units is simply too little and his definition of 'affordable' even when implemented, is well beyond the income of the families that end up in shelters.
The only viable answer to the city's homeless crisis is an expansion of public housing. True, it's not in the political cards, at least not now, but the mayor needs to use his bully pulpit to be a loud and constant voice to remind Albany and Washington that public housing is precisely the answer to today's crisis. As Frederick Douglas said, power concedes nothing without a demand.
34
(Not Mark) Yes, we can see from past history how successful public housing projects were and are now.
3
They blamed Koch.
They blamed Dinkins.
They blamed Giuliani.
They blamed Bloomberg.
Now they blame DeBlasio.
None of these people have made any difference in the problem or had the slightest effect on the overall upward trend in homelessness. There are now three options:
1. Change the imbalance between the City's cost of living and the range of incomes in its population. This is impossible in the US.
2. Tweak the court guarantee of "shelter" to include concentration camp conditions, and then build an enormous Hooverville somewhere to accommodate about 100,000 homeless at a time with federal, State and City maintenance dollars. Ring it with security forces as if it was Rikers Island.
3. Get used to the status quo, which is not a status quo but a continual increase in tragic living conditions, as an example of American government's lack of power.
They blamed Dinkins.
They blamed Giuliani.
They blamed Bloomberg.
Now they blame DeBlasio.
None of these people have made any difference in the problem or had the slightest effect on the overall upward trend in homelessness. There are now three options:
1. Change the imbalance between the City's cost of living and the range of incomes in its population. This is impossible in the US.
2. Tweak the court guarantee of "shelter" to include concentration camp conditions, and then build an enormous Hooverville somewhere to accommodate about 100,000 homeless at a time with federal, State and City maintenance dollars. Ring it with security forces as if it was Rikers Island.
3. Get used to the status quo, which is not a status quo but a continual increase in tragic living conditions, as an example of American government's lack of power.
5
The blame can't fall on one person. The problem is really unsolvable. Many of the homeless have no intention of being anything other than dependent on the system. Why should they bother when they are given shelter, food, and other subsidies? The least they could do is make sure their children attend school, but they frequently can't be bothered. Some are suffering from mental illness, but there are those who are addicts and spend all their money on their habits. They complain the shelters are in poor shape with excrement in the halls and elevators. How did it get there? Since many are not employed they should be required to assist in keeping the buildings up to code.
The best way to start is by rescinding the ruling that all who ask for shelter will get it, especially those who come from out of the area. Secondly, children should be required to be in school or the parents will lose some of their benefits. The children can and do eat at school. Unfortunately, children are the pawns of their parents in this and they will always win because we can't throw kids out on the street. As I said, there is no solution.
The best way to start is by rescinding the ruling that all who ask for shelter will get it, especially those who come from out of the area. Secondly, children should be required to be in school or the parents will lose some of their benefits. The children can and do eat at school. Unfortunately, children are the pawns of their parents in this and they will always win because we can't throw kids out on the street. As I said, there is no solution.
50
I hear what you are saying, but you are unfairly maligning all of the homeless, especially families. Many of these kids missing school because of the way the shelter system works. People are placed where ever their is space for them. Example, you lived in Bed Stuy Brooklyn, and this is where your children go to school. You lose your place because of job loss or a rent hike and end up homeless. You go the shelter. They send you to a temp shelter for 10 days, but it's in Far Rockaway or way uptown in the Bronx. Not only is the commute to get your kids to school 2 hours each way, but you have no money and can't afford the car fare to go back and forth every day. Then they put you somewhere else after the 10 days and maybe its closer, but likely not. And what if you have a job, which you can't afford to lose, because then you will be homeless and unemployed, with almost zero chance of getting a new place anywhere. In that case you must decide between taking kids to school or going to work to earn desperately needed money.
A lot of the people who have recently ended up in the shelters are the working poor, who have been pushed out of neighborhoods they have lived in for many years because of constant rent hikes and lack of alternatives and/or money to move somewhere cheaper, if such a place even exists.
A lot of the people who have recently ended up in the shelters are the working poor, who have been pushed out of neighborhoods they have lived in for many years because of constant rent hikes and lack of alternatives and/or money to move somewhere cheaper, if such a place even exists.
3
Yet another politician who hires his incompetent buddies at high salaries who make the problems in our city even worse.
DiBlasio is one of the worst mayors NYC has ever seen - and we have seen some terrible mayors - we cannot see the last of him too soon.
DiBlasio is one of the worst mayors NYC has ever seen - and we have seen some terrible mayors - we cannot see the last of him too soon.
43
I said that before he was elected. It is too bad William Thompson didn't get the Democratic nomination. He would have been a great mayor. He is a New Yorker, born and raised. He is pragmatic and his head isn't filled with all the nonsensical ideas floating around in DiBlasio's head!
The homeless situation is just as bad in San Francisco. Lots of tents on city streets. Not enough emergency shelters. You have the same critics of the City's efforts to manage the homeless situation The more services you provide , the more homeless continue to flood the City. You don't have a tracking system of where each homeless person is being supported and successfully moved on. So you don't have an assessment of how effective the City's homeless efforts are.
For all the critics, step up and jump in to lend a hand to Steven Banks. Bring new ideas to effectively change the situation. Don't sit back and throw rocks.
For all the critics, step up and jump in to lend a hand to Steven Banks. Bring new ideas to effectively change the situation. Don't sit back and throw rocks.
24
You said it best: "The more services you provide , the more homeless continue to flood the City."
The dirty secret is that there is no more land in these densely packed cities. So all we're doing is rearranging people in a destructive game of musical chairs because we can't build our way out of this problem. Putting people in hotels at market rates is also not sustainable for the long term, as it never gives people a sense of security so that they can build themselves and their families up and escape from homelessness.
Banks spent his early years fighting to ensure that NYC would be legally obligated to provide the services to ANYONE who shows up. I don't blame the people who want to take advantage of this. However, nothing will change until Banks admits that this was a misguided policy and he starts working to reverse it. Unless we change the law, demand will always significantly exceed supply and we'll continue to see greater and greater numbers of homeless men, women and children in the street.
But I'm willing to bet that the law will never be changed because there are many people getting very rich off these hotel contracts, and profiting from the misery and misfortune of others.
The dirty secret is that there is no more land in these densely packed cities. So all we're doing is rearranging people in a destructive game of musical chairs because we can't build our way out of this problem. Putting people in hotels at market rates is also not sustainable for the long term, as it never gives people a sense of security so that they can build themselves and their families up and escape from homelessness.
Banks spent his early years fighting to ensure that NYC would be legally obligated to provide the services to ANYONE who shows up. I don't blame the people who want to take advantage of this. However, nothing will change until Banks admits that this was a misguided policy and he starts working to reverse it. Unless we change the law, demand will always significantly exceed supply and we'll continue to see greater and greater numbers of homeless men, women and children in the street.
But I'm willing to bet that the law will never be changed because there are many people getting very rich off these hotel contracts, and profiting from the misery and misfortune of others.
50
And furthermore, as long as we're talking about solving the unsolvable, the real proactive thing to do would be establishing rent caps for housing, city-wide. Bring down everyone's rent at once and life would be better for us all, and housing easier to come by.
But again, that'd require the clout to make the real estate industry do things, and our government doesn't have that much power.
But again, that'd require the clout to make the real estate industry do things, and our government doesn't have that much power.
17
If you cap rents landlord will have choose between paying ever increasing property taxes or maintenance. You can't get out of paying taxes. Many buildings will become slums.
16
You can not be serious.
1
Dear Reader in Wash,
Most of the exorbitant rents are not going to property tax or maintenance, but just profit. There is no expense justification for a $5,000 per month rent. But to alleviate things, property taxes could be lowered at the same time, and made up for by increasing taxes on everyone making over a million a year.
Dear Pat,
Sometimes I can be serious.
Most of the exorbitant rents are not going to property tax or maintenance, but just profit. There is no expense justification for a $5,000 per month rent. But to alleviate things, property taxes could be lowered at the same time, and made up for by increasing taxes on everyone making over a million a year.
Dear Pat,
Sometimes I can be serious.
1
They should utilize the South Bronx and build homeless housing. It has been sitting vacant for decades and wasting away. This is a prime example of big city government not working for the people.
16
@Janis: Said the woman from Ridgewood, NJ who clearly hasn't seen the South Bronx lately.
20
I grew up in the South Bronx and lived there most of my life and in other parts of the Bronx. The South Bronx is not.vacant and wasting away. And thanks to rising rents in Manhattan and its proximity to the city, it is well on its way to becoming unaffordable for longtime residents just like many.areas in the other outer boroughs. Before I moved to Queens in 2013 several new buildings were build near me in the Freeman st, Crotona park area and the min income to live in the buildings was about $50k for a 1bdrm. This is in an area where incomes avg $30k or less.
A close friend who's makes a bit over 50k lost her apt near Yankee stadium late last year because she could not afford the increased $2k a month rent, along with food, utilities, and car fare for work. Her rent has increased over $100 a month every other year. It was $1600 a month when she moved in 2011, which was still half her take home then anyway.
A close friend who's makes a bit over 50k lost her apt near Yankee stadium late last year because she could not afford the increased $2k a month rent, along with food, utilities, and car fare for work. Her rent has increased over $100 a month every other year. It was $1600 a month when she moved in 2011, which was still half her take home then anyway.
10
Welcome to the real world, Steven.
When your life's work has been agitating and suing, no surprise you have no clue what needs to come the day after you win.
New York is no longer livable for anyone not rich. When I was young, lo these many years ago, I could support myself in a decent one-bedroom apt. for $5,000/year. I was able to support myself and a child, in a modest co-op apt., paying maintenance and mortgage, on $30,000/year--16 years ago. I couldn't afford NY now, as a retiree, even if I wanted to.
No--market-rate rents for all won't solve the problem. The market is now insane. It is no crime to be an average human being earning a modest living. But the days when a New Yorker could do that and live decently are over.
When your life's work has been agitating and suing, no surprise you have no clue what needs to come the day after you win.
New York is no longer livable for anyone not rich. When I was young, lo these many years ago, I could support myself in a decent one-bedroom apt. for $5,000/year. I was able to support myself and a child, in a modest co-op apt., paying maintenance and mortgage, on $30,000/year--16 years ago. I couldn't afford NY now, as a retiree, even if I wanted to.
No--market-rate rents for all won't solve the problem. The market is now insane. It is no crime to be an average human being earning a modest living. But the days when a New Yorker could do that and live decently are over.
61
The sheer level of incompetence up and down the de Blasio administration is appalling.
48
The homeless situation is bad in NYC right now, no doubt, I seem to be seeing more people clearly living on the streets. On the other hand, the homeless situation in NYC has been rather bad for my entire life. Giuliani put a dent in it, briefly, by throwing a lot of homeless in jail frequently, and paying others to get on a bus to some far city. This was fascist, of course, but effective, as fascism often can be.
Some things seem clear to me as potential remedies to homelessness. Firstly, naturally, build more housing, not shelters. Make it a necessity for all new housing that part of that same development must be given over to Section 8 housing or some similar program.
Hand-in-hand with that we'd need a W.P.A. type jobs program. Part of having government subsidized housing would be needing to work a government job, probably something menial unfortunately. Concurrently with that, we'd need training so people could gradually work their way up, get solid well-paying jobs, and get their own apartments.
All of that would take a vast investment and political power over real estate businesses. I just don't see either of these happening. Maybe mayor de Blasio would like to do these things, but the system as a whole does not want to do them. Real estate is very powerful here, it would never accept having to provide cheap apartments for homeless people.
At the bottom line, most people with lots of money don't care about the homeless. Change that and we could solve this.
Some things seem clear to me as potential remedies to homelessness. Firstly, naturally, build more housing, not shelters. Make it a necessity for all new housing that part of that same development must be given over to Section 8 housing or some similar program.
Hand-in-hand with that we'd need a W.P.A. type jobs program. Part of having government subsidized housing would be needing to work a government job, probably something menial unfortunately. Concurrently with that, we'd need training so people could gradually work their way up, get solid well-paying jobs, and get their own apartments.
All of that would take a vast investment and political power over real estate businesses. I just don't see either of these happening. Maybe mayor de Blasio would like to do these things, but the system as a whole does not want to do them. Real estate is very powerful here, it would never accept having to provide cheap apartments for homeless people.
At the bottom line, most people with lots of money don't care about the homeless. Change that and we could solve this.
30
Jobs building new housing. #giterdone
6
Thanks, Mr. Stackhouse, for a comment that takes the problem seriously and respects the complexity of the problem. Most of the other commenters here say that the homelessness problem proves Mayor de Blasio's incompetence. But the fact is that homelessness is not a new problem - I've lived in NYC under five mayors, and none of them have solved it; nor will the next five mayors.
politicsbyeccehomo.wordpress.com
politicsbyeccehomo.wordpress.com
3
Other countries do better. The US is a cold heartless place.,We're not the country we think we are. The self deception is flawless.
2
I think DeBlasio should commit to taking in thousands of Syrians. New York has the know how and the resources.
14
I just came from a community meeting concerning homelessness in various neighborhoods including Chelsea, NoMad, and Madison Square Park, hosted by Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer. Street homelessness is epidemic in these neighborhoods. Take a walk up Seventh Avenue from 23rd Street to Penn Station and see lots of people sleeping in the street. That's the sad part. The shouts of loud and aggressive people with serious mental problems is the scary part. At the meeting tonight, local residents related stories of crimes, harassment and property defacement on a continuing basis. While there was intense anger at officials by local residents, everyone acknowledged and applauded the well run facilities like Breaking Ground at the Prince George.
Unfortunately, the City is back to doing what it was doing 20 years ago. Obligated to comply with the legal requirements to house the homeless on demand, they are scrambling for spaces again, paying exorbitant hotel rents for inappropriate housing with minimal support services. The police are working on community policing techniques to encourage the homeless to get off the street, but they're understaffed. The Mayor needs to fix that. For the cuts to homeless services, the Governor is the culprit. Sadly, the folks on tonight’s panel took a lot of heat for problems they have not been given the tools to fix. The problem requires the Governor to step up and get New Yorkers the resources we need to fix the problem.
Unfortunately, the City is back to doing what it was doing 20 years ago. Obligated to comply with the legal requirements to house the homeless on demand, they are scrambling for spaces again, paying exorbitant hotel rents for inappropriate housing with minimal support services. The police are working on community policing techniques to encourage the homeless to get off the street, but they're understaffed. The Mayor needs to fix that. For the cuts to homeless services, the Governor is the culprit. Sadly, the folks on tonight’s panel took a lot of heat for problems they have not been given the tools to fix. The problem requires the Governor to step up and get New Yorkers the resources we need to fix the problem.
24
Instead of dumping homeless in working class Maspeth why not Central Park West? Brooklyn Heights? Fifth Avenue (Museum Mile)?
55
Don't be silly, Sean. Money talks.
9
Why can't Masperth do it share? There are neighborhoods in New York that are saturated with shelter facilities and have lots of people living in them from places like Masperth. The fine people of Masperth are fine with exporting their homeless folks to places like the South Bronx. Pure selfishness.
3
Actually, Maspeth has very few homeless people. The exact number from FOILed stats was 36, mostly comprised of families with children. Why should Maspeth import single homeless men from the South Bronx? Maspeth and surrounding communities also had faith-based programs in the past that took care of the community members who became homeless, but the city decided to pass all kinds of regulations that made it impossible to continue.
5
May this is too simple, but I think the homeless problem is about greed. New York City and the areas around it are prohibitively expensive for housing - impossible for someone like me, which is why I have to commute 5 hours round trip during the week. Nothing will ever be cheaper - Michael Bloomberg took care of that during his three terms when he sided with the landlords.
New York was always a high-priced place to live, but it is now the domain of the ultra-wealthiest and the rest of us can just stick it.
It's about greed. Always has been and always will be.
New York was always a high-priced place to live, but it is now the domain of the ultra-wealthiest and the rest of us can just stick it.
It's about greed. Always has been and always will be.
24
MAW, your frustration is understandable, but misguided.
Its about supply and demand. Many people want or need to live here and we do not build anywhere near enough to meet the demand.
The government policy is for unlimited housing for the permanent underclass, while hard working strivers (whom we should want and encourage to live within the 5 boros) are left to fend for themselves.
The politicians blame the evil landlords and the public (renters) buys it. If real estate developers are so bad, then let the government build the housing. Of course we have seen the resulting substandard housing.
I think De Blasio likes or encourages the druggie vagrants on our streets, he never fails to blame the landlords as the cause. Never mind that most of them are not New Yorkers and there is zero correlation.
Finally NYC still has over 1 million units of subsidized housing - NYCHA, section 8, SCRIE, DRIE, as well as rent stabilized and rent controlled units. The current problem will not go away as the more you build, the more demand grows for another entitlement - this one for life.
Its about supply and demand. Many people want or need to live here and we do not build anywhere near enough to meet the demand.
The government policy is for unlimited housing for the permanent underclass, while hard working strivers (whom we should want and encourage to live within the 5 boros) are left to fend for themselves.
The politicians blame the evil landlords and the public (renters) buys it. If real estate developers are so bad, then let the government build the housing. Of course we have seen the resulting substandard housing.
I think De Blasio likes or encourages the druggie vagrants on our streets, he never fails to blame the landlords as the cause. Never mind that most of them are not New Yorkers and there is zero correlation.
Finally NYC still has over 1 million units of subsidized housing - NYCHA, section 8, SCRIE, DRIE, as well as rent stabilized and rent controlled units. The current problem will not go away as the more you build, the more demand grows for another entitlement - this one for life.
19
(Not Mark) Actually it's about economics. Basically you have an area that is pretty built up. To keep neighborhoods nice the councils enact restrictive zoning and other covenants, so no new apartments and to keep people inheriting their grandmothers' rent controlled apartment no oversight to combat fraud. On top of this lefty policies, like giving shelter to anyone who comes calling, are exacerbating the problem instead of helping. People want to cap rents, but not taxes, so landlords have no incentive to keep the buildings in good shape or to renovate. Section 8? No one wants to live in a neighborhood with majority Section 8 people. Why? They never keep up their places and often times have problems with the neighbors and the law. The people who own their homes (worked very hard to get there too) don't want the values to decrease, so no homeless or Section 8. NY City is a great place, but supply and demand exempts no place. Check out all the other great cities in the world, NY is not unique in this problem.
Whether you look at this issue (shelter needed for homeless persons) or the larger issue of affordability of housing in NYC, it is evident DeBlasio's administration has failed pretty much across the board.
Affordable housing should not be an oxymoron, but in NYC it is. I don't understand the details, but I'm pretty sure that hotel owners & real estate developers are happy with the way things are going currently. If you look at ANYONE in power currently, I see neither the will nor the determination to make NYC housing affordable for the typical working person.
Affordable housing should not be an oxymoron, but in NYC it is. I don't understand the details, but I'm pretty sure that hotel owners & real estate developers are happy with the way things are going currently. If you look at ANYONE in power currently, I see neither the will nor the determination to make NYC housing affordable for the typical working person.
28
Some NYC hostels have rooms filled with bunk beds for well under $100 a night per person ! Are there no gyms etc that the city could not convert into a temporary bunk bed etc hostel for 30 men ?
11
The situation is even worse than this article presents
Of the 59,000 in the shelters almost 24,000 are children - more than would fit in Madison Square Garden
You can watch these statistics daily at http://www1.nyc.gov/assets/dhs/downloads/pdf/dailyreport.pdf
Or you can help.
There are organizations like New York Cares (newyorkcares.org) where you can volunteer to tutor shelter children, take them out to places like the Bronx Zoo or just spend time.
There are also 1.2 million of our fellow New Yorkers who rely of free food at some point during the year
Info can be found at http://www.nationalgeographic.com/foodfeatures/hunger/
And you can help there too.
Either through organizations like New York Cares or directly at places like the Xavier Mission (http://xaviermission.org ) in Chelsea Manhattan that serves an average of 1400 meals every Sunday to our fellow hungry New Yorkers.
One third of the adults in shelters work full time, just not being able to afford housing. Every day people make choices that for many are unfathomable.
But there are ways for all of us the help.
Of the 59,000 in the shelters almost 24,000 are children - more than would fit in Madison Square Garden
You can watch these statistics daily at http://www1.nyc.gov/assets/dhs/downloads/pdf/dailyreport.pdf
Or you can help.
There are organizations like New York Cares (newyorkcares.org) where you can volunteer to tutor shelter children, take them out to places like the Bronx Zoo or just spend time.
There are also 1.2 million of our fellow New Yorkers who rely of free food at some point during the year
Info can be found at http://www.nationalgeographic.com/foodfeatures/hunger/
And you can help there too.
Either through organizations like New York Cares or directly at places like the Xavier Mission (http://xaviermission.org ) in Chelsea Manhattan that serves an average of 1400 meals every Sunday to our fellow hungry New Yorkers.
One third of the adults in shelters work full time, just not being able to afford housing. Every day people make choices that for many are unfathomable.
But there are ways for all of us the help.
63
@Andrew: I appreciate and thank you for providing specifics on how any regular New Yorker can help in some way. Each of us can do something, even if we can't fix all that is wrong.
11
Community agitators are always the way to go. Obama was a community agitator in Chicago, and in one recent weekend 59 people were shot. Also Obamacare is another stunning success. Rates expected to go up another 25% this coming year, (116% if you are in Arizona, young and healthy).
All I can say is that the best twenty years of NYC were when Democrats were not in charge and Guiliani and Bloomberg were mayors. Democrats, lead by Hillary and the likes of DeBlasio are inseparable from cronyism, corruption and condescension.
All I can say is that the best twenty years of NYC were when Democrats were not in charge and Guiliani and Bloomberg were mayors. Democrats, lead by Hillary and the likes of DeBlasio are inseparable from cronyism, corruption and condescension.
34
@nydoc: Oh, please, for cronyism and condescension, look directly to Bloomberg and his rich developer friends. Mikey handed the city over to the developers, plain and simple. (BTW, you can look to him for corruption as well, as in: disregarding the law to get an illegal 3rd term as mayor for himself.)
Bloomberg said outright that people weren't entitled to live in Manhattan (and really, NYC) - and then his friends made it come true. What I want to know is WHY Bloomberg thinks only the rich deserve decent homes?
IMO, Bloomberg was - and always will be - a carpetbagger. He should go home to Boston and "fix" everything that's wrong there, since he's such a visionary.
Bloomberg said outright that people weren't entitled to live in Manhattan (and really, NYC) - and then his friends made it come true. What I want to know is WHY Bloomberg thinks only the rich deserve decent homes?
IMO, Bloomberg was - and always will be - a carpetbagger. He should go home to Boston and "fix" everything that's wrong there, since he's such a visionary.
13
why doesn't anyone complain that the reason health insurance rates are going up is that insurance companies think there is no point in helping sick people unless it generates a lot of profits. The profits, by the way, go to people who do nothing apart from owning stock -- truely parasites by any definition.
14
memo to L:
Michael Bloomberg is NOT the Mayor and has not been for THREE years. We get it, you do not like him, move on. Most people I know truly thought he was a great mayor for ALL New Yorkers. You do not, OK.
I do not even understand the extreme left view that he only cared about his "rich developer friends". Do you mean that he encouraged more much needed housing to be built without taxpayer subsidies? How do you propose solving a housing "crisis" without new housing? Again, the government has not proven to a very good builder and there are no federal funds for it.
Also, you think people should be entitled to live in Manhattan and not pay what the market dictates - I would like a Mansion in Beverly Hills, should other BH residents buy it for me? Yes, its great to have all sorts of folks in New York City and guess what, we do - the most diversified city in the world - but no one has a "right" or "entitlement" to live here and not pay. Look online to see what your Landlord is paying in property taxes and how much it has increased (yes, especially under Bloomberg).
FYI Bloomberg gave $100 Million out of his own pocket for a program to benefit young men of color exclusively.
BTW, Bloomberg should go back to Boston? De Blasio actually roots for the Red Sox over the Yankees.
Michael Bloomberg is NOT the Mayor and has not been for THREE years. We get it, you do not like him, move on. Most people I know truly thought he was a great mayor for ALL New Yorkers. You do not, OK.
I do not even understand the extreme left view that he only cared about his "rich developer friends". Do you mean that he encouraged more much needed housing to be built without taxpayer subsidies? How do you propose solving a housing "crisis" without new housing? Again, the government has not proven to a very good builder and there are no federal funds for it.
Also, you think people should be entitled to live in Manhattan and not pay what the market dictates - I would like a Mansion in Beverly Hills, should other BH residents buy it for me? Yes, its great to have all sorts of folks in New York City and guess what, we do - the most diversified city in the world - but no one has a "right" or "entitlement" to live here and not pay. Look online to see what your Landlord is paying in property taxes and how much it has increased (yes, especially under Bloomberg).
FYI Bloomberg gave $100 Million out of his own pocket for a program to benefit young men of color exclusively.
BTW, Bloomberg should go back to Boston? De Blasio actually roots for the Red Sox over the Yankees.
14
Homeless? Please. They are "homeless" because they can't stay sober for a day. I, like most other NYC taxpayers, are DONE supporting folks who urinate and deficate on our streets and sometimes threaten us. I realize our "mayor" lives behind iron gates protected by police at our expense and couldn't care less. Maybe he will care next November?
Mr. deBlasio: Just pick up the trash that now covers the sidewalks and streets during your last 14 months. Could you at LEAST do that? We've given up any hope you can do much more.
Mr. deBlasio: Just pick up the trash that now covers the sidewalks and streets during your last 14 months. Could you at LEAST do that? We've given up any hope you can do much more.
85
How can you be done if you never started?
4
Ditto and ditto. Why does this article fail to mention the proliferation of homeless on Manhattan streets? And the garbage they generate and leave behind? The situation is worse than It has been for years. The area around West 14th street where I live is like a camp for the homeless and looks like a public dump. In the midst of this are scattered a few of those free WI-FI towers which no one uses--a wasteful and probably costly city idea. Mayor Bloomberg cleaned up and beautified our streets; under the present city administration which I voted for they are are being defiled. I'd love to understand how and why this was allowed to happen. I don't want a second term for this mayor and hope someone more competent runs against him who can rectify the general mess NYC has deteriorated into.
7
Thank you Sarai for giving us this lightweight aka de Blasio. Here's hoping he's a one term mayor.
NYC is attracting the world's ambitious, draining the nations that need them most. As you justifiably point out, we are unique in that public policy.
When I see interviews on the local news, families come from everywhere. With the rise of social media, we are the place to be for the tired, the poor and those yearning to be free.
That made sense in the era of steamships. If our children want a future, we must divert our homeless from immigrants, who need a crash course in how we do things here.
In economic terms, housing is an inelastic good, education in a multitude of languages robs English speakers of resources and pretending that these costs are less than countably infinite is puerile.
When I see interviews on the local news, families come from everywhere. With the rise of social media, we are the place to be for the tired, the poor and those yearning to be free.
That made sense in the era of steamships. If our children want a future, we must divert our homeless from immigrants, who need a crash course in how we do things here.
In economic terms, housing is an inelastic good, education in a multitude of languages robs English speakers of resources and pretending that these costs are less than countably infinite is puerile.
9
New York is expensive, that is nothing new. Although the media never investigates, much of has to do we the government policies on housing - 12+ City agencies oversee and often conflict on requirements for every aspect of construction, union corruption and featherbedding, permits and approval take forever and the need to require "expeditors" to get anything done, delays, "affordable" i.e.. subsidized housing requirements etc cost money - It now costs 2 - 3 X to build in New York compared to other major cities.
By laws created by judges (often former legal aid lawyers themselves) Steven Banks and Legal Aid that require NYC to house everyone who asks for it - the only place in the United States that is legally bound. We are a magnet for those across the country seeking subsidized or free housing (this summer, the NYT wrote about a family of 4 who took a bus from California and went directly to the Department of Homeless Services).
There is a solution that advocates would refuse to consider - housing outside of hyper expensive New York City - upstate New York, the Southwest, Florida are filled with naturally affordable housing (the market is just much lower and the cost to build much less).
Another related problem is the Mayor and the NYPD basically ceding the streets of Manhattan to an army of mostly out-of-towners (often tattooed, drug addicted, with dogs and White). Why do the rules of society not apply to them?
By laws created by judges (often former legal aid lawyers themselves) Steven Banks and Legal Aid that require NYC to house everyone who asks for it - the only place in the United States that is legally bound. We are a magnet for those across the country seeking subsidized or free housing (this summer, the NYT wrote about a family of 4 who took a bus from California and went directly to the Department of Homeless Services).
There is a solution that advocates would refuse to consider - housing outside of hyper expensive New York City - upstate New York, the Southwest, Florida are filled with naturally affordable housing (the market is just much lower and the cost to build much less).
Another related problem is the Mayor and the NYPD basically ceding the streets of Manhattan to an army of mostly out-of-towners (often tattooed, drug addicted, with dogs and White). Why do the rules of society not apply to them?
25
(Not Mark) Other areas of the country don't want your homeless either.
Yet another miserable failure by a Mayor who cannot manage anything.
47
As Richard J. Daley, Chicago's most famous mayor once said to another NYC mayor who once thought he was a national figure: ''John,'' he said, ''you forgot why you were elected mayor - to collect the garbage.'' deBlasio doesn't want to get involved in the nitty-gritty of NYC politics. He'd rather laze about Park Slope, collecting rent and dubious contributions.
28
Too many cop shows. That's right, that's what I wrote. Too many cop shows.
After many decades of watching crime dramas on TV, everyone hates each other and thinks each other are criminals. That explains the public's hatred of homeless shelters and homeless being housed in Hotels.
People call the cops against each other for the stupidest of reasons. Nobody trusts anyone anymore. No one wants homeless people in their town because of all the TV news stories about violence in shelters. Even this article should have not mentioned the isolated murders on Staten Island.
The landlords are getting richer while the city government is getting poorer housing the homeless. That should be reflected on.
My suggestion is an adult foster care program that matches up current apartment dwellers who would benefit financially by taking in a boarder subsidizing the rent for accepting the homeless. There must be millions of people struggling to pay their rent that would welcome a couch dweller to help pay the exorbitant rents. This would work for single homeless people at least.
After many decades of watching crime dramas on TV, everyone hates each other and thinks each other are criminals. That explains the public's hatred of homeless shelters and homeless being housed in Hotels.
People call the cops against each other for the stupidest of reasons. Nobody trusts anyone anymore. No one wants homeless people in their town because of all the TV news stories about violence in shelters. Even this article should have not mentioned the isolated murders on Staten Island.
The landlords are getting richer while the city government is getting poorer housing the homeless. That should be reflected on.
My suggestion is an adult foster care program that matches up current apartment dwellers who would benefit financially by taking in a boarder subsidizing the rent for accepting the homeless. There must be millions of people struggling to pay their rent that would welcome a couch dweller to help pay the exorbitant rents. This would work for single homeless people at least.
18
@Patrick: You are suggesting that un-affordable housing should collide with the homeless problem in such a way that a regular person who has an apartment should happily take in someone who is homeless, even though the homeless person may have severe psychiatric, medical or addiction issues. Many of the homeless need professional help that the average person is not qualified to provide.
So, why are you sure this is a good idea? How much would YOU want to be paid each month to have a drug-addicted person or a mentally ill person who's on/off their meds living in YOUR home? How well would you and your family sleep at night?
So, why are you sure this is a good idea? How much would YOU want to be paid each month to have a drug-addicted person or a mentally ill person who's on/off their meds living in YOUR home? How well would you and your family sleep at night?
13
Having personally worked in this field, I can tell you that it's not that simple. There is a portion of the homeless population that is known as "MICA", which means mentally ill and/or chemically addicted. Handling this population is not as simple as just giving them a place to sleep. They need services and continuous treatment and they're not going to get that when they are just being warehoused in a converted hotel. The people who run these places have no incentive to get treatment for them either because they would lose profit. The NYTimes has covered this before when they reported on "cluster sites". It's the same model, just using hotels instead of private houses.
18
Too bad the hotel and landlord industries' puppet governor and other members of the legislature being controlled like marionettes voted against Airbnb because it posed a threat to their masters. Firm rent caps and breaking-up and privatizing the MTA are a solution.
It has been obvious to me for a while that these two star chain hotels springing up like mushrooms in places no tourist or business person would ever stay were always intended by their developers to ultimately be housing for the homeless. How long is the time-lapse between the construction of these new hotels and their conversion to housing for the homeless? They are in far-flung locations that have no marketability in the normal hotel room market. While I completely respect the city's sacred and legal obligation to provide its needy citizens with shelter, it should nonetheless be the responsibility of the hotel chains as good neighbors to include in their franchise agreements an undertaking that these facilities not be rented out to the city to house the homeless . If a developer wants to build a homeless shelter, he or she should openly approach the city and say so and not hide behind the thin mask of a Holiday Inn Express or a La Quinta that has no other practical function. Regardless of whether the local administration has been conniving in this phenomenon, it is a fiscal monstrosity and a recipe for bad community relations.
22
You make a very good point. I've wondered about the construction of hotels like the ones you describe, in remote, not very accessible locations, too; in places other than New York City.
1
sacred ??
Yes, the good people of Maspeth are outraged that homeless New Yorkers are being given beds in which to sleep, when they should be sleeping on streets. White lives matter indeed.
17
Not all of them are NY'ers, they come from Ohio, Pennsylvania and even New Jersey to come and be homeless in NY because they know they will be taken care of for the most part.
3
They have homeless "shelters" already, they are putting their collective foot down at adding more.
2
DeBlasio has stocked every city agency with former professional protestors as the heads. They don't know what they are doing, do not understand the function of governing, and are incapable of progress. They're the NYC equivalents of the Republican congress - loathing of how things have been done, but without answers as to how to be effective.
94
Every agency is run by a "former professional protester"? Seriously?
The PD is run by a "former professional protester"? The Fire Department? The Buildings Department? The Education Department? The Budget Office?
The fact is that Mayor de Blasio's agency heads are largely long-time civil servants who are steeped in the functioning of governing.
politicsbyeccehomo.wordpress.com
The PD is run by a "former professional protester"? The Fire Department? The Buildings Department? The Education Department? The Budget Office?
The fact is that Mayor de Blasio's agency heads are largely long-time civil servants who are steeped in the functioning of governing.
politicsbyeccehomo.wordpress.com
2
Jesus said the poor you will always have with you. NYC will always the homeless.
Public officials try to do what they can with the resources available. There is no solution. It is what it is. Is there any big city anywhere that has "solved" the homeless problem? Life is tough and then you die.
Public officials try to do what they can with the resources available. There is no solution. It is what it is. Is there any big city anywhere that has "solved" the homeless problem? Life is tough and then you die.
6
That so called Biblical quote really means- pay attention to me the big time Messiah. Those lowly poor type will always be around- I won't. I've got an appointment on the cross in a few day. Actually he should have said. The rich shall always be with you-ruling over you-they're here for good.
1
Whatever he meant, it's a truism, a fact of life that poverty is perennial.
6
The federal government and most states allow income tax deductions for children. Perhaps we could adjust this and divert some of the benefits for wealthy families to families which need help with housing, food, clothing, medical care, and transportation.
2
I respect someone like Mr. Banks who has spent his career trying to address these issues, but it should be very clear to him and others that it is far easier and simpler to be a "needle in the side" and make demands than to be the person expected to solve all the problems of all the people and implement solutions. Cue "the man in the arena" speech by Teddy Roosevelt. I hope he can make some progress and I wish him well as he tries.
58
A no nothing do nothing idealist.
He thought he could come and literally throw money in the air and make problems disappear.
He thought he could come and literally throw money in the air and make problems disappear.
29
I wish he would throw his own money into the air and not mine.
15
"...almost a third missed more than 20 days of school, while another third missed more than 40 days."
Could you please clarify? If one third missed 20 days of school, while another third missed more than 40 days, what percentage are we talking about? It sounds like a really scary word problem, & I was a mathematics teacher!
Homeless students who missed 40 days of school should be in the same group as those who missed more than 20 days.
Could you please clarify? If one third missed 20 days of school, while another third missed more than 40 days, what percentage are we talking about? It sounds like a really scary word problem, & I was a mathematics teacher!
Homeless students who missed 40 days of school should be in the same group as those who missed more than 20 days.
16
To take the statistics rationally it means one third missed more than twenty days but not more than forty days and another third missed more than forty days while the other third missed less than twenty one days
6
I would guess that what's meant is that 1/3 missed between 20 and 39 days, whereas another 1/3 missed 40 or more. So in total 2/3 of the kids have missed more than 20 days, with half of that group having missed 40 or more. But you're right that it's not very well expressed.
6
The wording is actually very clear if you pay attention to ALL the words in the sentence. The key word is "another." Almost a third missed more than 20 .....while "another" third missed more than 40 days. That covers two thirds. Its not at all ambiguous. We assume the other third missed an unremarkable number of days.
5
I can't feel any sympathy toward Mr. Banks. He is reaping what he has sowed.
50
Advocates and agitators and activists tend to get nothing positive done. All they know who to do is complain and blame and make people angry. Leave it to De Blasio to hire an incompetent like himself.
62
Sounds like NYC needs to stop offering housing to anyone who asks for it. Put a stop to new applications until you can deal with what you already have, otherwise, this is a disaster in the making.
52
Then what would hundreds of city bureaucrats do all day, other than sleep?
7
I think the videos humanizing the people in the shelters a brilliant response but probably one that's too subtle for the NIMBY bullies in Maspeth, who want to take and take and take from the city without once acknowledging their debts to it.
7
What an unbelievable comment. It is the people in Maspeth and others like them who actually pay the taxes that idiots like DeBlasio want to spend; try collecting taxes from the homeless.
54
In the topsy turvy world of NYC politics, you get comments like dporpentine's above.
How are the taxpaying working people of Maspeth "taking" and "owe a debt" while those demanding yet more entitlements (paid for by others) are taking and owing?
It reminds me of the city council's move to decriminalize public urination on the grounds that it targets minorities. But doesn't it just target those who pee on our streets and maybe its just a sad but true fact that it is minorities doing it. I do not know the racial statistics on this infraction, but I sure have seen more peeing in public - not to mention the smell of pot smoke everywhere.
How are the taxpaying working people of Maspeth "taking" and "owe a debt" while those demanding yet more entitlements (paid for by others) are taking and owing?
It reminds me of the city council's move to decriminalize public urination on the grounds that it targets minorities. But doesn't it just target those who pee on our streets and maybe its just a sad but true fact that it is minorities doing it. I do not know the racial statistics on this infraction, but I sure have seen more peeing in public - not to mention the smell of pot smoke everywhere.
31
It is so much easier to be an advocate. The Times always glorifies "advocates" at the expense of the people who actually do the hard work.
109
I don't know if u read the complete article but it was a fair assessment of Mr Steven Banks giving both the positive and negitive view points of his tenure and history
9
Idealists are hypocrites, they leave the work to someone else.
17
Regardless federal, state or local level, any government official who underestimate the persistence,
scope and depth of poverty in American will fail almost immediately and miserably.
The so called middle class is a myth, vast majority of American are very poor, and they merely have few Credit cards to pretend middle class for a While or practice keep up with Jonese.
scope and depth of poverty in American will fail almost immediately and miserably.
The so called middle class is a myth, vast majority of American are very poor, and they merely have few Credit cards to pretend middle class for a While or practice keep up with Jonese.
11
Never hire an "activist" to do real work.
94
Hiring a "passivist" [sic] instead would serve what purpose?
8
I know Mr. Banks who is a wonderful caring person, a great lawyer, and good manager, but he can't walk on water. He was put in an impossible situation and given impossible goals.
Solution: Di Blazio should scale back to what's doable.
Solution: Di Blazio should scale back to what's doable.
55
He gave himself impossible goals through his prior work as litigating advocate.
3
I'm sure he is Ted... But this is NY politics... A whole new ballgame!
IMO.. . Bill will not scale back... This seems to be his destiny.
IMO.. . Bill will not scale back... This seems to be his destiny.
Homelessness in the US is a national problem with solutions in every community. How many people could live in a renovated K-Mart or Sears or Walmart? How many could be housed in converted shipping containers? How many could be employed in the conversion process? Studies show that much of the cost of the conversions can be covered by reductions in policing, in ambulance usage, in hospital and emergency care costs; even allowing alcoholic homeless folks a few beers cuts costs, studies show. What could have been done with those millions of gallons of whole milk the farmers discarded a week or two ago because of low prices? How much capturable food waste is out there? Let's hope our new President, who is smarter than our average bear, will be allowed by Congress to deploy resources where they are really needed.
32
Shipping container is an excellent idea. It will create significant employment. These housing can be designated as temporary solution. When occupant has prospered to afford a better place they can be assisted to move out.
3
Or shopping malls? At the rate of online shopping putting the brick and mortars out of business, there ought to be an ample supply of former shopping arcades and centers.
9
I noticed in the recent photos of 'the Jungle' in Calais that some of the migrants were housed in stacked shipping containers.
3