Social Services
Under the new rule, the Department of Social Services would adjust the CityFHEPS rate to fair market rent in counties outside of the city, while also requiring a physical or virtual inspection of the units.
Medrite and Aron Security got $450 million to staff more than a dozen shelters under a shroud of secrecy. Even the city comptroller and Council are struggling to find out more as workers and residents clash.
The pushback came at a community meeting that the Department of Homeless Services did not even attend.
Cash assistance and other public benefits are helping more New Yorkers weather an economic climate that’s still tough.
“We have nonprofits that are stretched too thin, and they are rejecting cases because they’re not getting the resources they need from the city,” said City Councilmember Shaun Abreu.
Upstate schools are closing and volunteer fire departments are struggling with recruitment. Some locals blame a surge of city residents who bought second homes during the pandemic.
Judith Rubenstein began her “Searching for Home” booklet project last spring, asking people living on the street or in shelters to write or draw their thoughts on the very concept of “home.”
The directive shocked leaders of five overnight facilities that have let youth in crisis lie down on city-sanctioned cots since 2018.
Some asylum seekers who had refused to move to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal gave in after cold nights outdoors, while others held out demanding work permits.
As New York races to open facilities, advocates warn that many existing ones aren’t providing basic services like clean and seasonally appropriate clothes to wear to school.
The proposed legislation would direct states to quickly reissue funds. At least $730,000 has been taken from New Yorkers this year.
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The borough’s community refrigerators — fewer than during the pandemic — are strapped for cash as well as volunteers to transport food.
COVID shut down dozens of centers for older New Yorkers, but they are starting to reopen. Providers and patrons testified to the crucial role of these gathering places.
The decades-old shelter policy would have to go back to court to be undone, experts say.
The city’s animal care agency and other nonprofits are increasing efforts to pair pet owners with the resources they need to hang on to their furry friends when money is tight and housing can’t be found.
The demand for food resources continues to grow for many New Yorkers, but closures of community run pantries have resulted in difficulty accessing food banks.
City social service agency imposes limits on orders of fruits and vegetables under federally funded P-FRED initiative. “We didn’t hear anything,” says one volunteer.
A longtime shelter resident, an advocate for homeless people, an academic expert, and the union president representing shelter security officers on what can be done.
With three in four shelter applications rejected, advocates demand permanent adoption of a pandemic pause on children cycling in and out of a Bronx intake center.
Homeless families are getting city decisions to deny shelter overturned in growing numbers — and applying over and over again.
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