Month: October 2015

Mayor Bill de Blasio signed legislation Tuesday that will criminalize the sale and production of K2, a drug sold in bodegas and convenience stores that has ravaged the homeless populations in East Harlem for months, and has been directly responsible for at lea ..Read More

Does welfare corrupt the poor? Few ideas are so deeply ingrained in the American popular imagination as the belief that government aid for poor people will just encourage bad behavior. The proposition is particularly cherished on the conservative end of the sp ..Read More

This summer saw the city’s street homeless population become a tabloid sensation, with Mayor de Blasio seemingly forced into addressing the increase in homeless people on New York sidewalks. With shelters overflowing despite the city opening dozens of new on ..Read More

Have you noticed how often conservatives who disagree with a policy proposal call it a “job killer?” They’re especially incensed about proposals to raise the federal minimum wage. They claim it will force employers to lay off workers worth hiring at the ..Read More

A bevy of city and state officials—as well as former Council Speaker and Cuomo aide Christine Quinn—were on hand to fling the ceremonial first shovelfuls of dirt for a new 160-unit complex for homeless and low-income families, one funded in part through a ..Read More

New York City has agreed to improve its homeless shelters and offer more training to shelter staff so deaf and hearing impaired residents and applicants can get the aids and services they need. Under settlement agreements filed Monday in the Eastern District c ..Read More

With over 58,000 people in our shelter system every night, and thousands more sleeping on the streets, concern about homelessness in New York City has reached a fever pitch. We must attack this challenge on every front: through construction of more housing wit ..Read More

As New York City’s shelter population continues to hover near historic levels, another factor that’s a known predictor of homelessness is also on the rise: Crowding. City residents are living in increasingly crowded quarters and a combination of fa ..Read More

How many tax dollars are needed to house people who are homeless in New York City? A report released today from the New York City Independent Budget Office focused on the growing cost for housing homeless families and single adults and found shelter costs incr ..Read More