Today’s Read: What’s Behind the Rise in City Homeless Shelter Numbers? Posted on March 31, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone The de Blasio administration continues to grapple with near-record homelessness and the legacy of a 90 percent rise in the shelter census after the Bloomberg administration eliminated permanent housing options for homeless New Yorkers. Although de Blasio’s r ..Read More
In a High-Rent World, Affordable and Safe Housing is Hard to Come By Posted on March 30, 2016 by Pam Fessler in New York Now LaToya Fowlkes is standing outside rent court in Baltimore. A judge has just ruled that Fowlkes has to pay her landlord $4,900 in rent and fees despite her complaints that the house has leaky water pipes, chipped paint, rodents and a huge hole in the living ro ..Read More
What’s Behind the Rise in City Homeless Shelter Numbers? Posted on March 31, 2016 by Abigail Savitch-Lew in City Limits After Bill de Blasio’s first year in office, City Limits took a look at the state of the city’s homelessness epidemic. Though de Blasio had been elected on promises to reverse the unabated rise in homelessness, by the end of his first year, the she ..Read More
Low-Income Americans Can No Longer Afford Rent, Food, and Transportation Posted on March 30, 2016 by Soo Oh in Vox Low-income Americans are experiencing a staggering price hike in housing costs — a change that makes it sometimes impossible to afford basic necessities. A new Pew Charitable Trusts analysis of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that in 2013, low ..Read More
States Look to Provide Lawyers for the Poor in Civil Cases Posted on March 30, 2016 by Dave Collins in Associated Press A flood of poor defendants representing themselves — often ineffectively — in dire cases involving eviction, foreclosure, child custody and involuntary commitment has led to a push in legislatures to expand rights to free lawyers in certain civil proceedin ..Read More
Saving for Retirement: 1 in 5 New York City Elderly Residents Lives in Poverty Posted on March 29, 2016 in MetroFocus Are you saving for retirement? If not, you might want to start considering it: about one in five New Yorkers over the age of 65 is living in poverty. For our ongoing initiative “Chasing the Dream: Poverty and Opportunity and America,” we look at the growin ..Read More
Today’s Read: What Urban Hunger Looks Like Now Posted on March 29, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone A combination of stagnant wages and skyrocketing living costs has pushed more New Yorkers to the brink of survival, unable to afford the most basic necessities. Due to funding cuts for federal nutrition programs, record numbers of New Yorkers face constant unc ..Read More
Lawsuit Seeks Greater State Support to Combat Homelessness Posted on March 25, 2016 by Laura Nahmias in Politico New York As New York City and state officials fight in public over the best policy prescriptions for helping the city manage its homeless population, another battle is taking place in court. In late December last year, the Legal Aid Society, which was run for years by ..Read More
NYC Homeless Veterans to Get $750G Boost From Private Sector Donations Posted on March 28, 2016 by Jennifer Fermino in New York Daily News Here’s some news we can all wave the flag about. The city’s ongoing efforts to end veteran homelessness are getting a $750,000 boost from the private sector, officials will announce Monday. The much-needed money largely stems from two massive donations ..Read More
