Mayor Signs Bills Offering Free Feminine Hygiene Products Posted on July 13, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone in The Observer New York City’s girls and women in schools, prisons and shelters are now guaranteed access to free tampons and pads after Mayor Bill de Blasio signed three bills today—a high-profile step in a growing “menstrual equity” movement nationwide. The three b ..Read More
To Prevent Families From Entering Homeless Shelters, NYC Offers Debit Cards Posted on July 12, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone in WNYC The City of New York is trying out a new approach to stop the increase in the number of families with children in the shelter system: giving them money. This month, the city will begin offering one-time $500 debit cards to doubled-up families and their hosts. ..Read More
Seen and Not Heard: Homeless People Absent from Election Even as Ranks Grow Posted on July 9, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone in The Guardian It is no mean feat to cast a ballot when home is a doorway or a tent beneath a freeway underpass. When your mailing address is General Delivery, or the Prison Legal Services office, or someone else’s room at an SRO hotel. When the hunt for a voting precinct ..Read More
One Reason So Many Veterans Are Homeless? They Can’t Afford Lawyers. Posted on July 8, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone in The Washington Post David Garrett returned home from war to find he had no home. A disabled veteran from Maine who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan, Garrett soon fell into homelessness. After almost a year of camping out, he found an apartment he could afford by negotiating a d ..Read More
Cuomo Expands Access to New York’s SNAP Food Stamp Program Posted on July 11, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone in New York Daily News As many as 750,000 families in New York State are now eligible for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program following a change in the program’s rules. Gov. Cuomo announced that beginning July 1, families of three whose total monthly income is $2 ..Read More
For An Artist, A Room of His Own Is a Lifesaver Posted on July 1, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone in NPR These days you can find William Kitt in a small, bright solarium on the corner of 150th Street and Edgecombe Avenue in Manhattan, where he lives. Most hours on any day he sits here, sketching over a desk cluttered with colored pencils and pastels. What you cou ..Read More
NYC Effort to Help Homeless Makes Slow Progress Posted on July 6, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone in The Wall Street Journal As New York City’s homeless problem worsened last year, Mayor Bill de Blasio parted with two top officials overseeing the issue, called weekly staff meetings that sometimes grew testy and pledged more than $1 billion in additional funding. So far, the result ..Read More
Gov. Cuomo, Legislature Deadlocked on $2B Affordable Housing Plan for New York Posted on July 5, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone in New York Daily News Plans to develop nearly 3,000 units of affordable housing across New York have been put in jeopardy because Gov. Cuomo and legislative leaders failed to reach an agreement on how to spend $2 billion they put in the budget this year for new housing, advocates c ..Read More
New York Isn’t Telling Tenants They May Be Protected From Big Rent Hikes Posted on July 6, 2016 by Jacquelyn Simone in ProPublica In February of 2015, Lilian Piedra received a letter with devastating news: Her landlord was jacking up the rent for her four-bedroom apartment in Manhattan’s Washington Heights from $2,100 a month to $3,500. The notice did not say she faced eviction, but Pi ..Read More
