‘The System Is Beyond the Breaking Point’ Posted on October 12, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone in The Village Voice As the rate of homelessness in New York City has reached a record high, with around 60,000 people living in shelters, the effects on the 30,000 children in the system are devastating. Students often move multiple times on short notice, and because the system i ..Read More
The Remarkable Thing That Happens to Poor Kids When You Help Their Parents With Rent Posted on October 12, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone in The Washington Post Few programs for the poor are so widely reviled as public housing. For opponents on the right, housing projects are costly monuments to the folly of misguided idealism, stifling residents’ ambition by surrounding them with crime, decay and bureaucracy. F ..Read More
For New York City’s Homeless Children, Getting to School Is the Hard Part Posted on October 10, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone in The New York Times Family workers carrying caseloads of 256 children at a time. A girl who had transferred to four different schools, one of them twice, by age 11. Attendance reports from multiple agencies, but with none held responsible for making sure that students actually we ..Read More
It Is Time to Start Building Affordable Housing Posted on October 8, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone in Democrat & Chronicle In another audacious display of dysfunction, Albany’s “three men in a room” are now “three men in three different rooms.” That is how it appears, as housing advocates across New York wait in vain for Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Senate Majo ..Read More
New Laws Would Empower Tenants Caught In Three-Quarter Housing ‘Black Market’ Posted on October 7, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone in Gothamist Despite Mayor de Blasio’s recent efforts, about ten thousand New Yorkers are estimated to be living in overcrowded and hazardous three-quarter houses—apartments, primarily in central Brooklyn, where landlords have been known to cram addicts, recently r ..Read More
Medical Treatment Should Be My Choice, Not My Landlord’s Posted on October 6, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone in Gotham Gazette The landlord gave him a choice: go back to using heroin or be kicked out onto the streets. “Do what you do,” the landlord told him. So to keep a roof over his head, after nine months clean and sober, he got high. The landlord let him stay. Strange as this ..Read More
NYC Worries Federal Rules Hiking Rents Could Hit 56,000 Low-Income Families Hard Posted on October 5, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone in New York Daily News New federal rules could hike the rent for 56,000 poor New York families by hundreds of dollars a month, officials said Wednesday. The Obama administration is hoping to tackle economic segregation by overhauling rules for Section 8 vouchers — subsidizing more ..Read More
Ending Homelessness in Manhattan is Harder Than Keeping Good Data Posted on October 6, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone in amNewYork You walk past a homeless person and you have a few options — ignore someone obviously in need or try to help: hand them a sandwich or candy bar, a dollar or two. But there is another way to help. If you think a homeless person needs assistance, you can call ..Read More
NYC Makes Affordable Housing Lottery Process Easier for Homeless After Lowering Credit Score Bar Posted on October 4, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone in New York Daily News The city has revamped its affordable housing lottery process to help give homeless applicants a leg up, and also added new rules that ban denying any application over bad credit. Officials are allowing homeless applicants to be considered with a credit score a ..Read More