NYC Rules Targeting Homeless Singles Spark Outcry

[Purveyor]

Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS

(12-09) 13:14 PST New York (AP) --

The local shelter may not always have enough beds, but the nation's unmarried and childless homeless haven't had to prove that it's their only option when they show up at the door.

That could change under a policy proposed by New York City homelessness officials who want to begin turning singles away if the city determines they can rely on family, friends or other alternatives.

Caught between an unusual legal mandate to provide homeless shelters and a desire to preserve tightening resources despite increasing demand, the city's Department of Homeless Services plans to interview single shelter applicants to make sure they haven't exhausted other means of help.

It's a shift that critics worry could leave the city's most vulnerable individuals — many of them struggling with substance abuse and mental illness — out on the street.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/12/09/national/a114423S46.DTL

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What? Are there no prisons, are there no workcamps? /sacrasm off

[Bogart]

1. It's not right, but single and childless people are routinely discriminated against in the US.

It begins with the tax code and extends into all facets of human activities.

[russspeakeasy]

2. Have we run out of bullets ? (sarcasm on)

I wonder how low we can go, before we go under.

[cap]

3. 40 percent of homeless are lgbt

[marasinghe]

4. that's America's poster boy mayor & possible future president, mr. bloomberg, for you.

turning frikkin city roads & avenues into boardwalks & tanning parlors for the weekend, forcing cabbies into running some inane & useless tv channels off the backrests of their taxis for passengers, adding miles of dedicated bicycle paths on city streets, turning abandoned elevated train lines into gardens & parkland, having his business pals & subordinates screwing over the city on construction & maintenance projects, stopping restaurants adding salt & butter into their food - all good.

but providing some pathetic homeless guys shelter over the winter, keeping the city's largest homeless shelter running in the new Riviera town of Manhattan, or paying teachers & city workers a decent wage - now that's asking for too much from the city govt..

another wealthy, elitist sociopathic autocrat - disguised under a mask of pseudo civility & education.

shows the wretched condition of political leadership, in the US & throughout this planet.

[Shoe Horn]

5. "HALLELUJAH! I'M A BUM"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uKbIkYGsIg
Good song.


I tell ya, we're going back to the hobo camps and stuff of the 30's.
...it's sad. But, maybe people will pull together.

[marasinghe]

7. yep; we'll be going down the mountain. & here's one from a patron saint of hobos & gypsies.

nope, not St. Francis of Assisi - though he qualifies.
but young Woody Guthrie, bound for glory.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwcKwGS7OSQ

:toast:

[Shoe Horn]

9. This could go on all night...

:)

So, I'll leave ya with a good movie suggestion:
'Matewan'

Don't read too much about it. Just rent it or whatever and give it a spin if you get the chance.
Seems like you'd like it. It's a decent flick.

:beer:

[Liberal_in_LA]

6. Singles with no kids have a much harder time getting housing assistance.

It was explained to me this way - single people can rent a room from someone.

[SammyWinstonJack]

8. United States of THE ONE PERCENT!

Ain't it grand? :puke:

[DocMac]

10. Add it up...the revolution has begun. n/t

[limpyhobbler]

11. I'm pretty sure the homeless shelter is the last-ditch stop for most folks.

I don't think I'd show up at a homeless shelter until I exhaust all the other alternatives.

Anyways if we force people to beg increased charity from friends & family, then the city is just pushing the cost of the safety net off onto other people who are most likely already struggling to get by.

Bloomberg sucks.