Out-of-town homeless families from around the US are flooding NYC shelters

[Shortline Bus]

"It's not just tourists and wanna-be starlets flocking to New York these days.

The city has also become a popular new travel destination for the homeless — and taxpayers are now paying to send them back where they came from.

“People see New York as a land of opportunity, a place that’s welcoming,” said Homeless Services Commissioner Seth Diamond, noting that the city’s unique “right to shelter” law affords housing to everyone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The number of out-of-town families flooding city shelters has jumped by 48% over the past four years, from a total of 1,390 in 2008 to 2,053 in 2011, records show.

More than 40 new families arrive every week from Puerto Rico, Florida and elsewhere — and head straight to packed intake centers where they wait to be placed in shelters.

“It used to be very rare where we’d see people coming directly from the airport,” said Vida Chavez-Downes, who heads the city’s Bronx intake facility. “But now I see a consistent amount of those people. For some reason, people feel it’s the only way.”

That includes Naika Rolon, 27, who fled Puerto Rico last winter with three young children to get away from an abusive husband.

"My husband owed people money,” she said. “They were coming to our house after he left us. I was afraid.”

 

 

Rolon heard from a friend about the city’s guaranteed shelter policy — practically the only one of its kind in the country — and made her way to a shelter in the Bronx.

Housing a single homeless family costs about $3,000 a month on average — $36,000 annually — and out-of-towners have helped swell the shelter population to an all-time high of 43,040. The budget has grown to $870 million.

In an effort to reign in those costs, the Bloomberg administration has cranked up efforts to ship the carpetbaggers back to where they came from."

 

 

Read more: http://www.nydailyne...1#ixzz22D8chBX3

[Shortline Bus]

Good job by the Daily News. Despite their constant reporting on entertainment i.e Kayne and Kim K romance lol, they blow away the NY Post on good hard news stories like this and are the best "tabloid" paper in America IMO.

I did not know about how NYC pays for out of town homeless folks to get home even as far as Calif. and Puerto Rico.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Disgusting... I'm all for helping out the homeless (that is NEW YORKERS who have fallen on hard times), but having out-of-towners flock here on our hard earned tax dollars is ridiculous and I am glad that Bloomberg is cracking down on it. A similar situation happened in Canada which gives free healthcare to everyone and folks started flocking there in droves running up large bills which the taxpayers were stuck with. Rightfully folks were pissed and demanded changes.

[Shortline Bus]

Disgusting... I'm all for helping out the homeless (that is NEW YORKERS who have fallen on hard times), but having out-of-towners flock here on our hard earned tax dollars is ridiculous and I am glad that Bloomberg is cracking down on it. A similar situation happened in Canada which gives free healthcare to everyone and folks started flocking there in droves running up large bills which the taxpayers were stuck with. Rightfully folks were pissed and demanded changes.

 

 

On that issue I have to agree VG8 on your above statement. Am i allowed to say the word "Freeloaders" in this political correct world?

[Grand Concourse]

Not really surprising. If there's something free, there will always be those trying to get the benefits on the dime of others. Just terrible with taxes going up because of deadbeats scamming the system...

[Via Garibaldi 8]

What I'm curious about is why NYC has this but practically no other places have it?

[Grand Concourse]

The program or the deadbeats?

If the latter, then probably because ppl associates NYC as 'recession proof' and are flocking over in droves as everywhere else is worse off.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

The program... The article makes it seem like very few places have this set up. Maybe they foreseen the abuse or just don't have the money to run it. Hell I don't see how NYC can afford it either.

[QM1to6Ave]

Homelessness has been one of those issues that Bloomberg, in his infinite wisdom, has yet to really try to tackle. THe homeless population has grown and grown, and not only because of the recession. The city is finally trying to reform the shelter system and, more importantly, create divisions meant to help prevent people from losing their house/apartment in the first place. There was a whole outcry about this policy of paying for 1-way tickets a while back. I wonder what those critics will say now.

 

Also, who in the world is telling these people to come straight to New York from the airport?? This is probably the most expensive city in the whole US! And how do they afford the flight here if they can't even afford a little apartment! This all sounds a bit sketchy to me; it really sounds like these people are gaming the system.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Well part of the issue with why the homeless population is growing is because some of them don't like staying in the shelters. (Am I still on topic? )

[Tokkemon]

Disgusting... I'm all for helping out the homeless (that is NEW YORKERS who have fallen on hard times), but having out-of-towners flock here on our hard earned tax dollars is ridiculous and I am glad that Bloomberg is cracking down on it. A similar situation happened in Canada which gives free healthcare to everyone and folks started flocking there in droves running up large bills which the taxpayers were stuck with. Rightfully folks were pissed and demanded changes.

 

 

You, sir, know nothing about Canadian Health Care. Now go sit in the corner over there and play with your Cadillac insurance plan.

 

What I'm curious about is why NYC has this but practically no other places have it?

 

 

Gets people off the street and makes the city more attractive to tourists. Duh!

[Via Garibaldi 8]

You, sir, know nothing about Canadian Health Care. Now go sit in the corner over there and play with your Cadillac insurance plan.

 

 

Well I know enough to know about it that folks don't like being taken for a ride. That much I do know. Getting back to the topic at hand , I wonder how much money was originally earmarked for this before it swelled with so many folks flocking here for shelters because I do feel like I see fewer homeless people here in Manhattan anyway which is previously where I've been seeing them. I haven't seen any in the other boroughs in the neighborhoods that I've frequented.

 

 

Gets people off the street and makes the city more attractive to tourists. Duh!

 

 

Well of course, but NYC isn't the only place that attracts tourists hence why I would think more than just a few places would have it...

[Harry]

Well part of the issue with why the homeless population is growing is because some of them don't like staying in the shelters. (Am I still on topic? )

 

 

You are still on topic. You're doing great!

[MHV9218]

I take everything in the News with a massive grain of salt, specially with their general anti-homeless opinions. That said, this is a problem (if not to the degree in the papers) and it's not good. I can't personally say I can think of a real solution to the problem that's specific to NY -- obviously we need a minimum wage increase, but there aren't many quick fixes to an issue as complicated as this. People want to be in New York because it's a diverse, fascinating city. We can't turn them away cause they're poor, but we also can't have our shelters overfilling thanks to people coming in from out of the state.

 

Well I know enough to know about it that folks don't like being taken for a ride.

 

 

Key point we're missing here: Canadian healthcare works.

[checkmatechamp13]

Just one thing: Are the administrative costs that high that it costs $3,000 a month to house a family? Unless they're paying per day at a hotel or something.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

I take everything in the News with a massive grain of salt, specially with their general anti-homeless opinions. That said, this is a problem (if not to the degree in the papers) and it's not good. I can't personally say I can think of a real solution to the problem that's specific to NY -- obviously we need a minimum wage increase, but there aren't many quick fixes to an issue as complicated as this. People want to be in New York because it's a diverse, fascinating city. We can't turn them away cause they're poor, but we also can't have our shelters overfilling thanks to people coming in from out of the state.

 

Oh please... These people are clearly flocking here because they know that they'll be taken in. Nothing more nothing less. All of that about New York is so great... The first thing that folks do that come here mainly for work is LEAVE when they make a little money. lol I'm not talking about folks that come here for career opportunities. I'm talking about the ones that leave their countries solely for work purposes. They'd much rather stay in their home country if possible before coming here.

 

 

Key point we're missing here: Canadian healthcare works.

 

 

If by "works" you mean is a burden to taxpayers then I'll pass on that key point of yours.

[B35 via Church]

"Out-of-town homeless families from around the US are flooding NYC streets"

 

fixt.

[Tokkemon]

If by "works" you mean is a burden to taxpayers then I'll pass on that key point of yours.

 

 

No, it's called paying for your taxes so your fellow man doesn't have to suffer because he can't afford healthcare. It's a quasi-socialist culture point that you can't relate to.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

No, it's called paying for your taxes so your fellow man doesn't have to suffer because he can't afford healthcare. It's a quasi-socialist culture point that you can't relate to.

 

 

It's short for freeloading like these folks are who are flocking to NY for the homeless shelters.

[Tokkemon]

No it's not. Everyone in the nation, if they're rich or poor, get's the same healthcare. Everyone. Need I say everyone again?

[Via Garibaldi 8]

No it's not. Everyone in the nation, if they're rich or poor, get's the same healthcare. Everyone. Need I say everyone again?

 

The point is that not everyone pays the same taxes.

[Tokkemon]

That's true of every nation on earth. And unlikely to change. I'm sorry, but being as poor as I am, I have no sympathy for rich people saying they pay too much in taxes when they can afford all the luxuries of a comfortable life.

[realizm]

The wealthy elite (the majority of them) have the qualities of greed, selfishness and apathy, it's an evil side of man that is not going to change any time soon. As for some people who in their egotistic and ignorant reasoning thinks that all poor people are freeloaders they need to wake the hell up and realize that many poor people are in fact indeed striving and working tirelessly to gain a better life - going to school and working a full time job in many cases, paying taxes. So they can shatter that glass ceiling that shut such people out from having that higher quality of life.

[realizm]

However as much as I despise how the upper middle class put all of the blame for the woesof society on the poor as a whole, VG8 does have a point I agree with: The fact that some of those who are poor do take total advantage of the system instead of carrying their own weight wasting needless tax dollars. Taking unfair advantage of government provision meant for those genuinely *in need*, as we're discussing as a side point.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

That's true of every nation on earth. And unlikely to change. I'm sorry, but being as poor as I am, I have no sympathy for rich people saying they pay too much in taxes when they can afford all the luxuries of a comfortable life.

 

 

Well the problem is that these days everyone is seen as "rich". I mean anyone that brings in say $100k a year is seen as rich, which is a joke. For a family 100k is nothing, especially after taxes, monies for school and so on these days. The abuse of programs like these, which we most certainly should have BUT with restrictions in place is killing the so called "rich" people, who are nothing more than middle class to upper middle class people at best. The true rich folks like the Warren Buffets of the world pay next to nothing in taxes.

 

I'm in favor of social programs like these but they should be temporary. Spending 36,000 a year on a family... The people receiving this should be giving something back in return... Perhaps cleaning up the parks... Something to earn their keep instead of freeloading off of hard working taxpayers.