New York Comptroller, Taking Aim at ‘Three-Quarter’ Homes, Urges City Agencies to End Referrals Posted on June 15, 2015 by Kim Barker in The New York Times The office of the New York City comptroller plans to send letters on Tuesday to City Hall and various agencies demanding that they take steps to ensure that people in need of housing are not sent to illegal boarding homes, known as “three-quarter” houses, ..Read More
Read the Report Posted on June 15, 2015 Failure of Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio to complete a robust “New York/New York IV Agreement” to create more permanent supportive housing will lead to more NYC homelessness and higher costs for taxpayers. ..Read More
When Feeding the Homeless Runs Afoul of the Law Posted on June 13, 2015 by David Martin Davies in NPR Every Tuesday night, Joan Cheever hits the streets of San Antonio to feed the homeless. In a decade, she’s rarely missed a night. But on a recent, windy Tuesday, something new happens. The police show up. “He says we have to have a permit,” C ..Read More
It’s Not Just About Bad Choices Posted on June 13, 2015 by Nicholas Kristof in The New York Times Whenever I write about people who are struggling, I hear from readers who say something like: Folks need to stop whining and get a job. It’s all about personal responsibility. In a 2014 poll, Republicans were twice as likely to say that people are poor becau ..Read More
Population of Homeless Adults in Shelters Will Grow by 59% in 5 Years if Gov. Cuomo Doesn’t Give More Aid, Report Says Posted on June 11, 2015 by Jennifer Fermino in New York Daily News An alarming new study found the record numbers of homeless single adults in shelters will grow by a whopping 59% in five years if the city doesn’t get 30,000 units of supportive housing — nearly eight times the amount Gov. Cuomo has proposed. The Coalition ..Read More
This Documentary Shines a Light on NYC’s Homeless LBGTQ Youth Posted on June 9, 2015 by Emilie Friedlander in Fader A quarter century after Paris Is Burning swept the independent film world with its verité depiction of life in the New York ballroom scene, the docks down by Christopher Street, off Manhattan’s West Side Highway, are still home to New York’s largest popul ..Read More
Strong Rent Regulation is Needed to Address Crisis of Affordability Posted on June 9, 2015 by Melissa Mark-Viverito, Mark Levine and Jumaane Williams in The New York Observer New York City is facing an unprecedented crisis of affordability. Skyrocketing costs of living citywide threaten to price working families out of their longtime homes and communities. At the same time, thousands of affordable housing units, created as a safegu ..Read More
NY Policy Battle Pits Affordable Housing Against Tax Breaks for the Rich Posted on June 9, 2015 by Debora Fougere in Al Jazeera America Rosa Mendosa is afraid of losing her home. A grandmother and has lived in New York since 1981, she said through an interpreter, “I came to this country from Nicaragua because at the time there was a lot of war and violence in my country.” Mendosa, her son, ..Read More
Today’s Read: Paying to Keep People in Their Homes Can Save Cities Money Posted on June 9, 2015 by Jacquelyn Simone The best way to combat homelessness is to prevent it in the first place. That’s why the Coalition’s Eviction Prevention Program, which rescues individuals and families from the brink of homelessness by offering one-time grants, is such a successful model ..Read More