New York City Homeless to Face Shelter Regulations Reminiscent of a “Harsher Era” if State Approves “Extraordinary Change” in Policy, Says Head of NY Legal Aid Society Legal Services E-lert
The New York Times reports: "In June 2004, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
made a lofty promise to address one of the city's most intractable problems: he
would reduce the homeless population of 38,000 by two-thirds in five years . .
. . Today,
with the total homeless population down only slightly, and with more families
in shelters than five years ago, the administration is seeking state approval
for a new set of policies designed to move families out more quickly, applying
the same market-driven, incentive-based philosophy to homeless shelters that it
has used in schools and antipoverty programs.
Under the new rules, nonprofit agencies that provide shelter beds under
contract with the city would be paid more than the usual rate, which is roughly
$100 a day, for each family that arrives.
But after six months, if the agency has not been able to get the family
into stable housing, the city would begin paying it less than the standard
rate. And city officials are trying to
toughen rules and consequences for homeless families, forcing them to follow a
strict code of conduct or risk being ejected from the shelter . . . . ‘It's an extraordinary change in what has
been city policy for nearly three decades,' said Steven Banks, the attorney in
chief of the Legal Aid Society. ‘It's
striking that the current city administration and the current state administration
would be returning to these shelter-termination regulations, which are really a
relic of another, harsher era' . . . .
State approval is required to make changes to social service policies. Anthony Farmer, a spokesman for the State
Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, said the state commissioner was
considering the proposals."
