NYPD Commissioner Bratton Says Panhandlers Would Move on if They Didn’t Get Money — But Advocate Says ‘He’s Mistaken’ Posted on November 10, 2015 by Erin Durkin, Ginger Adam Otis and Jennifer Fermino in New York Daily News Police Commissioner Bill Bratton offered a radical solution Monday for those offended by New York’s homeless: Rely on your common cents. Speaking to reporters at City Hall, Bratton said panhandlers would disappear if people stopped plunking coins in their cu ..Read More
VA Enters Stretch on Goals for Homelessness, Claims Backlog Posted on November 10, 2015 by The Associated Press in The New York Times Six years ago, the Obama administration set the ambitious goal of ending veteran homelessness in 2015 and ending the backlog in disability claims. It appears likely the Department of Veterans Affairs will miss both targets even though it has made progress. The ..Read More
Can New York Save Itself from Out-of-Control Rents? Posted on November 8, 2015 by Peter Moskowitz in Vice New York City has a problem that isn’t unprecedented or unique, but it’s undeniably a problem: Too many people want to live here. As a result, the vacancy rate has dropped to 1 percent in Manhattan, and the average price of a rental in that borough ..Read More
Lawsuit Could Change Fate of New York City’s Homeless Youth Posted on November 8, 2015 by Victoria Bekiempis in Newsweek Amid widespread discussion of New York City’s homelessness crisis that has pulled down Mayor Bill de Blasio’s approval ratings, according to polls, an ongoing lawsuit seeks to overhaul the city’s policies governing a particularly vulnerable d ..Read More
New York is for the Rich Only: “Inequality in Housing has Reached Dickensian Dimensions” Posted on November 7, 2015 by Michael Winship in Salon The Chinese restaurant across the street from me – one of the last, reasonably priced joints in the neighborhood – closed last weekend. Their lease was up for renewal and the rent increased from $5,000 a month to $25,000. Such an enormous jump isn’t unus ..Read More
Real Estate Shell Companies Scheme to Defraud Owners Out of Their Homes Posted on November 7, 2015 by Stephanie Saul in The New York Times Partially paralyzed and reliant on a wheelchair, Ozella Campbell spends a lot of time watching television. It was under those circumstances in February 2014 that she saw a commercial urging her to call MyHouseIsADump.com, a company that offered to buy houses i ..Read More
The Tragedy of Youth Homelessness, by the Numbers Posted on November 5, 2015 by Gerald Schifman in Crain's Children are the silent minority of New York’s homeless, but are slowly becoming a bigger portion of the population. According to new data, the portion of students without permanent homes continued to rise in 2014. 38% of the city’s homeless are ch ..Read More
New Research Reinforces Case for Restoring Lost Housing Vouchers Posted on November 3, 2015 by Douglas Rice in Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Two important new studies reinforce the already strong case for restoring the rest of the 100,000 Housing Choice Vouchers cut by the March 2013 sequestration and using a large share to reduce homelessness, as the President has proposed. Funding increases in 20 ..Read More
Sanctuary, Not Just Shelter: A New Type of Housing for the Homeless Posted on November 4, 2015 by Pam Fessler in NPR Ending homelessness isn’t just about finding a home. Sometimes, it’s about finding a nice home — a place that’s bright, modern and healthy to live in. That’s the idea fueling the development of a number of buildings around the country ..Read More
