The High Cost of Being Poor Posted on March 28, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone 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 Jacquelyn Simone 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
Banks, Armed With Data, Says City Homelessness Programs are Working Posted on March 15, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone 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
New York City is Upgrading Security at Its Homeless Shelters Posted on March 15, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone in Associated Press New York City will re-establish a domestic violence program in homeless shelters as part of broader efforts to upgrade security at the facilities, where family incidents are the most common form of violence, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday. The New York Poli ..Read More
Brooklyn Landlords Run From State Investigators: “They’ve Had This Coming” Posted on March 10, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone in Gothamist A notorious landlord and homeless shelter operator is resisting turning over documents to state investigators who say they have “direct evidence” that he and his relatives and business associates may be harassing tenants, skimping on maintenance, a ..Read More
New York City Council Backs Affordable Housing Plan Posted on March 14, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone in The New York Times A proposal by Mayor Bill de Blasio to rezone parts of the city to build more housing cleared its most important hurdle on Monday, emerging from a City Council meeting with enough revisions to satisfy major critics and city lawmakers who had opposed the plan fo ..Read More
Cities Across U.S. Slash Homelessness for Veterans Posted on March 14, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone in The Boston Globe Perched on a Spartan bed with a simple metal frame, a tiny bathroom only a few feet away, 61-year-old George Gisoldi beams as he surveys his shoebox-size domain. The disabled Air Force veteran is no longer homeless. “I have a home to go to. I have a place to ..Read More
$15 an Hour, One Way or Another Posted on March 14, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone in New York Daily News Support is growing across New York State for increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour. More than two-thirds of New Yorkers agree that working men and women need a raise. The Legislature should give them one, or Gov. Cuomo should take action. The reasons to i ..Read More
Saving a Mixed-Income New York Posted on March 11, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone in The New York Times Could it be that the fate of New York City is being decided right now? Mayor Bill de Blasio thinks so. At a rally on Wednesday, he told retirees and union members: “With your help, people are going to look back on these days in March of 2016, and they’re g ..Read More
