Posted on December 23, 2015 by Jacquelyn Simone An editorial in today’s New York Times lays out a voice of reason on homelessness in New York City, by contrasting steps the Mayor has taken against a complete lack of response from the Governor. Homelessness has rightfully been at the top of the City’s agenda lately as Mayor de Blasio has announced a series of sweeping changes and ambitious new programs to address the ongoing crisis. Last week, the Mayor announced the beginning of an intensive 90-day review of the City’s homeless services agencies and a change in leadership at the Department of Homeless Services. Days later, he unveiled the new Home-Stat initiative to connect the thousands of New Yorkers who are sleeping rough on the streets to vital services. This builds on the momentum of last month’s historic announcement that the City would be creating 15,000 units of supportive housing for the most vulnerable New Yorkers over the next 15 years. While these developments show that the City is stepping up its efforts to combat the crisis of homelessness from multiple angles, more is clearly needed. The New York Times editorial points out that the success of these efforts largely depends on the City having a working partnership with the State government. For a start, Governor Cuomo must agree to match the City’s supportive housing commitment unit-for-unit so that the men and women struggling with mental illness, HIV/AIDS and other special needs will have a real alternative to the streets, in the form of permanent supportive housing. The thousands of New Yorkers bedding down in shelters, on the streets and in the subways this winter are anxiously waiting for Gov. Cuomo to take action. … Word is that Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants to tackle New York City’s homeless problem, too. He hasn’t revealed his plans, but his spokeswoman Dani Lever said in a statement last month that the announcement would come in a speech in early January: “It’s clear that the mayor can’t manage the homeless crisis, and the state does intend to step in with both management expertise and resources in a plan to be released in the State of the State.” It was a telling statement from the governor, who hardly bothers to hide his contempt for the mayor. Mr. Cuomo also used a recent radio interview to sneer at Mr. de Blasio’s supportive-housing program and to tease to his forthcoming “full homelessness plan.” He said, “We have places where the system has broken down in New York City and that’s why we’ve been going methodically, talking to the different provider groups, looking at the population and where is the need.” Notice that Mr. Cuomo didn’t say anything about talking to the mayor, presumably because he has no interest in doing so. Nor did he say anything about providing real money. Deep cuts in state aid have crippled the fight against homelessness in New York in recent years. The city and state used to work as partners to tackle homelessness and affordable housing, long before Mr. de Blasio became Mr. Cuomo’s punching bag. If the governor is actually going to try to help the city, and not just find another way to humiliate Mr. de Blasio, he will have to help rebuild that relationship.
