Newark Mayor Objects To New York's Homeless Relocation Program

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka is objecting to a New York City program that has relocated a number of homeless families to his city across the river.

In 2017, Mayor de Blasio created a program called Special One Time Assistance that pays a year’s worth of rent for homeless families willing to move out of New York. In December, WNYC reported that some of those families ended up in illegal and uninhabitable apartments in Newark. Mayor Baraka said on Wednesday the program is a “burden” to his city and “does nothing to break the cycle of homelessness.”

He’s asking New York to inspect all the apartments in collaboration with his inspectors, stop paying 12 months of rent upfront, which makes it difficult to take action against negligent landlords, and to give the families who move to Newark the option to return to New York City shelters if they become homeless again.

The de Blasio administration says homeless families have the right to seek housing where they can afford it and is pledging to continue the program.