The Coalition for the Homeless, Neighbors Together, Safety Net Project-Urban Justice Center and VOCAL-NY lead protest at DHS headquarters calling for stop to Sanctions policy roll out Dozens of advocates, shelter residents, and concerned New Yorkers gathered outside the Department of Homeless Services headquarters this morning to demand that DHS halt the reinstatement of shelter sanctions through the “Enhanced Client Placement Support” (ECPS) policy. The protest, organized by the Coalition for the Homeless, Neighbors Together, Safety Net Project-Urban Justice Center and VOCAL-NY, highlighted serious concerns that the policy will harm the city’s most vulnerable residents and increase unsheltered homelessness rather than help people find permanent housing. Coalition research revealed alarming deficiencies at pilot sites: Only two of 18 pilot shelter sites employ their full budgeted number of case managers Resident-to-case manager ratios range from 25:1 to as high as 152:1 Five pilot sites have no housing specialists despite local law requirements Six sites lack Wi-Fi access, preventing residents from applying for benefits and searching for housing The organizations emphasized that previous sanctions policies disproportionately affected residents with mental health concerns and other disabilities, who face additional barriers in securing permanent housing. “When there are obvious and apparent needs that are not accommodated, we see that symptoms or behaviors related to individuals’ illnesses are wrongly characterized as ‘non-compliance’ and result in adverse outcomes,” advocates noted, citing concerns from their June 16 letter to DSS Commissioner Molly Park. Advocates highlighted the contradiction between DSS Commissioner Park’s assertion that the sanctions will create increased accountability for shelter providers, and the fact that the sanctions policy is directed solely at homeless New Yorkers – with no consequences for providers who fail to provide adequate services to shelter residents. Furthermore, the sanctions policy is directly connected to DHS’ street“clean-up” policy (also known as “sweeps”) of homeless encampments, which forcibly removes people living on the street from their locations. If someone living on the street was sanctioned and kicked out of their shelter, they will have nowhere to go if they experience a sweep and are forcibly removed. This creates a harmful and vicious cycle of targeting homeless people. Protest participants called attention to the policy’s implementation during a time when the city and state are facing federal budget cuts and increased threats to housing stability, making support for vulnerable residents more crucial than ever. Speakers at the rally included: Pamela Stevens, VOCAL-NY Reynaldo Medina, VOCAL-NY Maria T Walles, Safety Net Project/Safety Net Activists Calvin Michael, Safety Net Project/Safety Net Activists Simone LaFluer, Neighbors Together Alison Wilkey, Coalition for the Homeless The Coalition for the Homeless has documented that shelter residents with disabilities who require accessible housing often experience significant barriers in their housing search, including insufficient accessible housing options and lack of support for completing applications and attending viewings. The organizations vowed to continue advocating against the policy and called on Commissioner Park to reconsider its implementation. “Instead of housing homeless New Yorkers, DHS is bringing back sanctions that threaten the right to shelter and will force people to sleep on the streets,” said David Giffen, Executive Director of the Coalition for the Homeless. “This harmful policy punishes residents for the City’s own failures to provide adequate staffing and services.” Kathryn Kliff, Staff Attorney in the Homeless Rights Project at The Legal Aid Society, said: “These harmful sanctions are one of the most backward and counterproductive policies the City could impose. Making vulnerable shelter residents leave shelter for 30 days because they didn’t move into housing—while shelters remain understaffed and under-resourced—is both absurd and cruel. Forcing people to be unsheltered won’t speed up their housing search; it will only make the process harder and more painful. Instead of punishing people in crisis, the City should be investing in supportive services. Sanctions will only lead to more vulnerable people without a safe place to sleep and without help to access permanent housing.” “The sanctions policy will harm many people living in shelters who already experience retaliation and harassment by shelter staff. Furthermore, if individual shelter residents are kicked out for 30 days they will be pushed into street homelessness. This where they will become subject to cruel sweeps by the city and pushed around with the risk of having their life-saving property being taken away. During sweeps, the City claims to support people get into shelters. But if someone is sanctioned out of shelter, then where are they supposed to go? They’re evicted from shelters and from the streets!”– Maria Teresa Walles, Safety Net Activist Leader.
