Pay Your Fare With This, Homeless People!

From Picture the Homeless Blog

Pay Your Fare With This, Homeless People!

Fri, 07/11/2008

The New York City Department of Homeless Services is fond of saying that they give money to the shelters to provide Metrocards for homeless people to get to important appointments. But far too often, when a homeless person needs a Metrocard (because they have been placed in a shelter far away from their doctor and job and childrens' school and family and friends), they have to submit to a humiliating and arbitrary process. Which one formerly homeless person described as follows:

"In order to get a Metrocard, you have to find a caseworker who's not too busy polishing her nails. Then you have to beg, plead, scream, get on your knees and lick his or her shoes. Then... you only get a Metrocard if the caseworker is in a good mood and "approves" of your destination. Not very humanizing for the clients... and not a very efficient way to get anywhere. "

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Homeless People Count

From a report entitled "Homeless People Count"

VACANT PROPERTY CAN COMPLETELY ERADICATE HOMELESSNESS IN NYC

The total volume of empty housing units in abandoned buildings exceeds the number of homeless households in shelter and on the street! 24,000 potential apartments can be developed out of all those properties going to waste. As of April 17, 2007, families and 7,170 single adults. NYC's HOPE 2006 count of the "unsheltered homeless" indicated a citywide street population of 3,843. While we
believe that this number is dramatically lower than the actual street population, even if the City's count was off by 98.7%—meaning the street homeless population is twice as high as officially acknowledged—there are still enough potential apartments in Manhattan to house every homeless person in the shelters and on our streets.

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VACANT PROPERTY AFFECTS EVERYONE

Every year, an overwhelming amount of money is lost as a result of property abandonment. Blocks with boarded-up buildings experience two to three times as many police calls for violent
offenses as blocks in the same neighborhood without vacant property. Homes near abandoned buildings experience a net loss of more than $7,000 in value. Not only is money spent as a result
of abandonment, considerable revenue is lost through the taxes and utilities that could be generated. We believe that vacant properties contribute to the NYC housing crisis and to homelessness. In 2005, New York City spent $709 million to provide shelter to 97, 039, with an average shelter population of 34,000 a night.