Is It Time Yet, Mayor Bloomberg? Posted on December 8, 2009 by Patrick Markee Mayor Bloomberg said there would be “plenty of time…after the election” to talk about homelessness. With NYC homelessness at all-time record levels, is it time yet? Back on August 10th, according to the New York Daily News’ Daily Polit ..Read More
NYC Women with AIDS See Their Progress in Survival Reverse as Funding Is Redistributed Posted on December 4, 2009 by Giselle Routhier As recently reported in the Huffington Post, a new study done by Health People reports that New York City’s progress in reducing death rates among residents with HIV/AIDS in the Bronx and Brooklyn has collapsed since 2006–the year the Bloomberg ..Read More
Thirty Years of the Legal Right to Shelter in New York City Posted on December 2, 2009 by Patrick Markee December 5th marks an important anniversary: Thirty years since the first landmark court ruling in Callahan v. Carey affirming the legal right to shelter for homeless New Yorkers. When modern homelessness first emerged in the late 1970s, the City of New York ..Read More
A Formerly Homeless Man Is Documenting First-Hand Stories of Homeless Posted on December 1, 2009 by Giselle Routhier How many New Yorkers are guilty of walking past a homeless man or woman on the streets and pretending not to see them? As reported on CNN today, Mark Horvath, a formerly homeless man has set out to use technology to combat the invisibility of the homeless and ..Read More
Enhancing Food Assistance During the Economic Downturn Posted on November 30, 2009 by Patrick Markee The front page of Sunday’s New York Times was a stark reminder of the harsh impact of the current economic downturn: One in eight Americans now uses Food Stamps to supplement their food budget, and the number of Food Stamps recipients is rising rapidl ..Read More
A Stark Reminder of the Danger of Illegal Boarding Houses Posted on November 20, 2009 by Giselle Routhier Two weeks ago, as reported in the New York Times, four men died in two separate fires in Queens and Brooklyn in homes that had been illegally converted to an occupancy much higher than legally allowed. In today’s paper, a follow-up article reiterated ..Read More
Hunger on the Rise in the United States Posted on November 18, 2009 by Patrick Markee An alarming new report from the Federal government shows that hunger is on the rise across the United States. As the New York Times reported this week, a new U.S. Department of Agriculture report shows: “The number of Americans who lived in households ..Read More
Housing as a Human Right Posted on November 17, 2009 by Giselle Routhier Last month, the United Nations assigned an official “rapporteur” to the task of investigating affordable housing in several United States cities, including New York, to see if the lack of affordable housing constituted a human rights violation. M ..Read More
More Bad News for Street Homeless New Yorkers Posted on November 16, 2009 by Patrick Markee Following the past year’s cutbacks in drop-in centers and other services for homeless New Yorkers sleeping on the streets, Bloomberg administration officials recently announced plans to close the largest drop-in center in the city — and made it cle ..Read More