Report Calls City Homeless Plan Flawed
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
N ew York, NY –
A new report from the Coalition for the Homeless says a city program meant to move families out of shelters and into apartments is fundamentally flawed. WNYC's Arun Venugopal has more.
The city's program, known as Housing Stability Plus, provides a rent subsidy that is paid to landlords. However, the subsidy is reduced each year. This forces tenants to find additional sources of income.
The problem is, to be eligible for the housing, they must be on public assistance. This prevents them from earning even minimum wage, full time. Participants in the program say they're also forced to sign expensive side deals with the landlords, often in buildings with numerous violations.
The city says it has created a work group to look into the violations. It's also pushing the state to help pay for the rental subsidy while people move off public assistance.
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