The High Cost of Being Poor Posted on March 28, 2016 by Aimee Picchi in CBS MoneyWatch Struggling with poverty is hard enough on its own, but many of America’s poor now face an array of costs that wealthier citizens often don’t incur. Take the rise of for-profit probation companies, which more than 1,000 courts across the U.S. use. T ..Read More
What Urban Hunger Looks Like Now Posted on March 22, 2016 by Ellie Anzilotti in CityLab On East 11th Street between Avenues B and C in New York City’s East Village, the line for the Father’s Heart food pantry wraps around the block. On cold winter days, people bundle up in puffer coats to hold their place; they might be outside, standing stil ..Read More
City Council Approves Zoning Changes Key to de Blasio’s Affordable Housing Plan Posted on March 22, 2016 by Brigid Bergin in WNYC New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio scored a big win for his affordable housing plan on Tuesday when the City Council approved controversial zoning changes. But that was after protesters disrupted a roll call vote on two measures – Mandatory Inclusionary Hous ..Read More
At Least 212 Homeless People Died in FY 2015, Report Shows Posted on March 23, 2016 by Laura Nahmias and Brendan Cheney in Politico New York At least 212 homeless people, including seven infants under the age of one year, died in New York City from a variety of causes included drug overdoses, heart failure, and exposure to the cold during the fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2015. The statistics ..Read More
Push to Boost Housing Aid for Domestic Violence Victims Posted on March 22, 2016 by Kenneth Lovett in New York Daily News ALBANY — The head of the city Human Resources Administration was in Albany Tuesday to lobby to include domestic violence victims in a state rental assistance program designed to prevent homelessness. Steve Banks also was pushing to raise the rental assistanc ..Read More
Inching Toward Safer Homeless Shelters Posted on March 18, 2016 by The Editorial Board in NYTimes No doubt about it: The crime statistics in New York City look rosy. But Mayor Bill de Blasio is not in a good position to boast — not when people are living on the streets and subways because they don’t want to be robbed, stabbed, beaten or killed in homel ..Read More
Unsafe Haven: How Violence and Drugs at City Homeless Shelters Flew Under the Radar Posted on March 19, 2016 by Courtney Gross in NY1 We have been examining violence and drugs saturated city homeless shelters all week. In the final piece of our series, Unsafe Haven, we look at how these reports flew under the radar for so long. How will the city make sure it doesn’t happen again? NY1 ..Read More
A Farewell to the Dog Who Helped Him Off the Streets Posted on March 18, 2016 by Andy Newman in NYTimes Raymond Goynes went uptown to see Sonja one last time on March 8, a sunny Tuesday morning. He let himself into her owner’s penthouse duplex in Hell’s Kitchen. Sonja, an 11-year-old wheaten terrier, was sprawled on the wool kilim rug in the living room. Her ..Read More
Banks, Armed With Data, Says City Homelessness Programs are Working Posted on March 15, 2016 by Laura Nahmias in Politico New York The web of new subsidy and rental assistance programs City Hall has put in place since Mayor Bill de Blasio took office to help homeless New Yorkers get out of shelters and into permanent housing is showing signs of sputtering to life, Human Resources Administ ..Read More