Cindy Rodriguez
Cindy Rodriguez has been a staff reporter at WNYC, New York Public Radio since July of 2002. As the station’s urban policy reporter she covers the impacts of poverty on communities in all five boroughs. ...
Formerly Homeless Families Worry About Loss of Housing Voucher
Friday, March 18, 2011
The decision by the city to halt housing vouchers for the formerly homeless has some worried they could end up back in a city shelter.
On Thursday, the city announced it was notifying 15,000 households — most of them families with children — that there will be no more rental subsidies starting on April 1. The Department of Homeless Services said it had no other choice given the state's decision to defund the housing program called Advantage.
Natalie Rizzo and her 11-year-old son have been in the program just over a year.
"A lot of people are getting back on their feet with this program, and I'm actually one of them," Rizzo said.
The single mother said she works part time and is close to receiving a teaching certificate that will allow her to work as a teacher's assistant. If she loses her housing subsidy she said she'll need to quit school to get a full time job that will pay enough to cover the full rent. Rizzo said she's trying not to stress out about the loss of her rent subsidy.
"Even though inside and at night I toss and turn,' she said. "I don't get sleep thinking about what's going to be the next move for me."
Nelson Maldonado is also worried about what losing his housing subsidy would mean for him and his young son. Maldonado said his job as a maintenance instructor doesn't pay enough to cover his rent because the hours change from week to week. He worries about ending up back in shelter.
"I don't have anywhere else to go," he said. "I've actually been doing a lot of work in the apartment. ... And I'm going to stop even doing that because I may not be there very long."
The city said the $140 million program is impossible to sustain without the state money and the federal matching funds that come with it.
A spokesman for Governor Andrew Cuomo said the city could pay for the program if it wanted to. "The city seems intent on manufacturing a crisis and endangering thousands of New Yorkers," the spokesman, Josh Vlasto, said.
Seth Diamond, Commissioner for the Department of Homeless Services countered that claim.
"The state budget has created the crisis that may now prove devastating for our city's homeless families," he said.
A group that advocates on behalf of shelter providers said it was shocked by the city's decision to halt the housing subsidies. In a written statement, Christy Parque from Homeless Services United said, "The failure of the city and the state to come to a resolution on the budget has lead to a game of political chicken in which the homeless and formerly homeless will suffer the consequences."
Coalition for the Homeless, another advocacy group, said it's working with Legal Aid to seek an injunction to stop the city from terminating subsidies for current recipients. The organization has been critical of the Advantage program because it argues the subsidy doesn't give families enough time to get back on their feet. It typically lasts two years.
"Even though the program is a failure, a promise is a promise, and there's no question the city has a legal commitment to continue paying those rent subsidies," policy analyst Patrick Markee said.
According to Marquee, 26 percent of families who use the Advantage voucher end up back in the shelter. The city disputes those numbers and says the number is more like 10 percent.
The Advantage housing program was created by the Bloomberg Administration around 2007. According to the city, 20,000 households have used the voucher to move out of shelter and into permanent apartments.
The city is predicting that without the housing subsidy there will be a 51 percent increase in the shelter population and the need for 70 new shelters by next summer.
Comments [10]
my name is tanairi rosa I am 24 years old i have four kids my son name is johnny he is 8 years old my second son name is jacob he is 6 years old my daugther name is tanairi she is 3 years oldshe is disable she dont walk my baby son his name is joseph he is 8 months my husband name is johnny he is 28 yaers old on january 2010 i went to a family shelter and i found apartment on may 2010 i move in on june2010 with this program call fix advantage the city said that this program is 2 years than you have to pay you own rent or it can trun to section 8 rigth now it march 27 2011 and the deptment of d.h.s send me a letter stating starting on april 1 2011 they are no longer going to pay the rent i dont know i am going to make it i will end up homeless with my family i really dont want to go the shelter the shelter of newyork city are very bad and dirty i dont know how i will pay the rent cause i cant get a jodb cause i have a disable daugther and a baby i hope things change and be rigth love always tanairi
Im experiencing thsi change and it is the sad...They are turning people away from the shelters also..fearing they will need beds soon for some of these people that might or will end up homeless. Dhs has no compassion and this is a city run orgination.
Some of us that are on fixed income budget, like SSI or SSD can not pay the rent without the help,
They keep saying the city has compassion but things like this show otherwise, what is going on
we are elderly and can not take the shelters and getting around is hard we expected our housing to become our homes wake up think about how you would feel if it was your parents going through all this.
i worked really hard to find job and maintain it with all the public assistance appointments. i got my voucher on 03/04/2010 and was so excited i immediately started searching. i found a beautiful apartment for my family and i within 2 days and all that was left was for the apartment to pass inspection. i found out the next day that there would be no more advanage voucher. do you know how much that hurts? i know im not the only person who feels this way. its a horrible thing for them to do because in order to have the voucher u HAVE to work. so were obviously not being lazy! were getting on our feet with temporary help. but because of them people like myself and other families will either stay homeless or become homeless until we find rich-people jobs like them! -_-
Are they thinking about the children and how it will affect their future? How can the city, state, and government be so cruel? We need to consider the children!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
with god help the program wont be terminated lets have faith and leave it in gods hands.
i have 7 kids and myself ive been inthe program for 7 months i have no where else to go.i really dont want to go back to the shelter.i just hope they dont terminated the program.i dont no wat i would do.
hello my name tyvonne dawkins the I move to my apartment in 42 days in the. the advantage voucher is a stressful because Im a single man I get ssd I do not want to go back ih the shelter I dont to leave my apartment
My name is luz lopez and i am a family of 5 my husband is disable and i have 4 childern ages 14 to 4 months old. i also have the advantage program not knowing what's going to happen im stress out don't want to end up back in the shelter.
As usual, the poor are abandoned in our ruthless triage system. Ask Bloomberg for his dining out budget, and the problem would be solved.
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