State Leaders Should Keep Promise to Homeless Posted on June 11, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone in Democrat & Chronicle Every night, roughly 80,000 New Yorkers confront homelessness. Anyone who has walked through Washington Square Park knows exactly how pervasive this problem has become. The good news is we are very close to breaking the cycle of poverty for tens of thousands o ..Read More
Fate of $2 Billion in State Housing Funds Unclear as Session Nears End Posted on June 13, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone in Gotham Gazette Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state Legislature allocated $2 billion to spend on 100,000 units of affordable and supportive housing in this year’s budget, which was agreed to on April 1. But they failed to include specifics — details of how that money woul ..Read More
Today’s Read: The School Where Nearly Half of Pupils Are Homeless Posted on June 6, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone Children are the often-hidden victims of New York City’s homelessness crisis, with more than 23,000 boys and girls bedding down in shelters each night. Research shows that, compared to their housed peers, homeless children are more likely to fall behind in s ..Read More
Where Nearly Half of Pupils Are Homeless, School Aims to Be Teacher, Therapist, Even Santa Posted on June 6, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone in The New York Times There are supposed to be 27 children in Harold Boyd IV’s second-grade classroom, but how many of them will be there on a given day is anyone’s guess. Since school began in September, five new students have arrived and eight children have left. Two transfer ..Read More
Report: Housing the Homeless Gets Cheaper Every Year Posted on May 31, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone in Time A “first-of-its-kind” report released on Tuesday in San Francisco found that the costs of housing homeless people drop by more than half over a few years, following an initial spike when they first find their way into supportive housing. City analysts trac ..Read More
Today’s Read: The Hourly Wage Needed to Rent a 2-Bedroom Apartment Is Rising Posted on May 31, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone The housing affordability crisis is one of the leading drivers of homelessness. Years of skyrocketing rents and stagnant wages have pushed thousands of New Yorkers to the brink of eviction, with near-record numbers left with no option but the crowded shelter s ..Read More
Old and on the Street: The Graying of America’s Homeless Posted on May 31, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone in The New York Times They lean unsteadily on canes and walkers, or roll along the sidewalks of Skid Row here in beat-up wheelchairs, past soiled sleeping bags, swaying tents and piles of garbage. They wander the streets in tattered winter coats, even in the warmth of spring. They ..Read More
Advocates Nervous About State Housing Plan as Albany Session Nears End Posted on May 27, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone in City Limits Housing advocates couldn’t be happier that the state budget passed last month includes an unprecedented amount of money for a 100,000-unit statewide affordable housing plan. Check that. They’d be considerably happier if the governor and legislative ..Read More
Housing Advocates Growing Restless Over Frozen $2 Billion in State Budget Posted on May 26, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone in Crain's New York Business There are now two separate campaigns urging Albany to release plans for a $2 billion pot of housing money that has sat unused since its inclusion in the state budget. More than 100 affordable-housing organizations have joined the New York Housing Conference in ..Read More
