How to Apply for Affordable Housing in New York City Posted on March 2, 2016 by Amy Zimmer in DNAinfo The affordable housing lottery this summer for 64 units at a high-end glassy tower on Madison Avenue was the first to get 100,000 applicants, according to data city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development. But odds are slim that all of these app ..Read More
Making the Journey From Menace to Neighbor, All on One Brooklyn Block Posted on March 3, 2016 by Jim Dwyer in The New York Times The time had come for Gene to leave the ground-floor apartment, as he knew it would. The owner who let him stay there rent-free had been dead for more than a year, and the estate wanted it back. With the marshal at the door, Gene delivered his cats to a neighb ..Read More
The Ghost Tenants of New York City Posted on March 3, 2016 by Jake Blumgart in Slate Gigi lives in a high-rise apartment on the Upper West Side for less than she used to pay for a smaller third-floor walk-up in Bushwick, Brooklyn. The two-bedroom in Manhattan is shabby in some ways, but the rent can’t be beat: less than $1,000 a month for a ..Read More
Today’s Read: Increased Legal Services Contribute to 18% Drop in Evictions Posted on March 2, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone The unrelenting housing affordability crisis throughout the city has forced record numbers of New Yorkers out of their homes and into shelters in recent years. Between FY 2002 and FY 2014, the percentage of families entering a shelter following a formal evicti ..Read More
Homeless Shelters Will Soon Provide Free Tampons, Pads Posted on March 1, 2016 by Marla Diamond in CBS New York Light is being shone on an often taboo subject that affects all women: their period. An effort is underway to make feminine hygiene products free in New York City schools. On the state level, female lawmakers are trying to lift the sales tax on tampons and pad ..Read More
When the Kitchen Is Also a Bedroom: Overcrowding Worsens in New York Posted on February 29, 2016 by Kirk Semple in The New York Times Rafael’s housing situation is an exercise in tolerance and creative space management. He lives with four other people in an overstuffed apartment in Jackson Heights, Queens, that measures less than 500 square feet. He shares a bedroom with his mother. Two me ..Read More
Evictions Are Down by 18%; New York City Cites Increased Legal Services Posted on February 29, 2016 by Mireya Navarro in The New York Times Evictions in New York City dropped last year to their lowest level in a decade, as the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio bolstered efforts to prevent more New Yorkers from becoming homeless. Evictions decreased by 18 percent last year, to 21,988 from 26,8 ..Read More
How the Homeless Population is Changing: It’s Older and Sicker Posted on January 8, 2016 by Margot Kushel in The Conversation On any given night in the United States, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, over half a million people are without a home. That number may have decreased nationwide in the past few years, but California remains on the forefront of th ..Read More
America’s Insidious Eviction Problem Posted on March 1, 2016 by Gillian B. White in The Atlantic An eviction can be extremely unsettling, with a family’s most personal effects—clothes, furniture, children’s toys—piled on street corners or hastily packed into trucks or cars. But while spectators may soon forget the disturbing scene, an eviction can ..Read More