June 13, 2019 NEW YORK, NY – The following statement is attributed to Giselle Routhier, Policy Director at Coalition for the Homeless. “The NYPD’s misguided new policy will only serve to further criminalize homeless New Yorkers through useless summonses. There is no criminal justice or policing solution to homelessness in New York City. People avoid services and shelters for a variety of legitimate reasons, the most important being the shortage of safe, welcoming shelter beds and permanent and supportive housing. Reducing the tragedy of people taking makeshift refuge in transit facilities and on the trains means giving them somewhere better to go – not using the police to chase them in circles.”
