Posted on September 24, 2019 by Shant Shahrigian in New York Daily News New York Daily News, By Shant Shahrigian The city shouldn’t force homeless New Yorkers to put big chunks of their scant income into government-controlled accounts to avoid being kicked out of shelters, say a pair of pols along with homeless advocates. The city Homeless Services Department is holding a hearing Wednesday on a rule that would require some homeless people to put 30% of their income into savings accounts. If single adults fail to do so, they could get the boot. City Councilman Stephen Levin (D-Brooklyn) and Assemblyman Harvey Epstein (D-Manhattan) say the “paternalistic” rule unfairly punishes people for being homeless while doing nothing to address the root cause of the problem. “A forced savings plan takes a one-size-fits-all approach that does not allow for variance in one’s spending lifestyle, but surveils and severely restricts a person’s needed day-to-day budget,” Levin said in a statement. New York City has encouraged employed homeless shelter residents to put some of their income into savings accounts since 2010. But in August, the state gave the city permission to make its income savings program mandatory.
