NYT: NYC Mayor Bloomberg Unveils Plan to Reduce Homelessness

[DeepModem Mom]

Bloomberg Unveils Plan to Reduce Homelessness
By MARIA NEWMAN
Published: July 17, 2006

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced today a new, more aggressive approach to hard-core street homelessness, while putting in place a more comprehensive approach to keep people from becoming homeless in the first place, and to help the homeless get back on their feet faster.

The mayor unveiled his plan at an address to the National Alliance to End Chronic Homelessness Annual Conference....In a prepared text of the speech, Mr. Bloomberg talked about his administration’s progress in its goal to reduce homelessness by two-thirds by 2009. He noted that there are almost 20 percent fewer individuals and 30 percent fewer children in shelters since 2003....He said that his administration’s efforts to keep people who are living on the margins from becoming homeless were clearly working, according to surveys, but he said there were still too many people that were not responding to any efforts of help. And those, he said, included some people who were living under highways, next to train trestles and on the streets that the mayor called “degraded and unhealthy environments.’’...

***

The mayor said that beginning in the next few weeks, (the commissioner of the Department of Homelessness) and his team, working with community organizations and faith based groups, will begin visiting these sites to “humanely, respectfully, and firmly’’ talk to the homeless seeking shelter there to convince them to “enter supportive housing, enroll in treatment programs, or go into shelters.’’...

***

“Our view is that any level of street homeless, no matter how reduced in scope and visibility, is an inexcusable civic failure that consigns our fellow human beings to lives tragically shortened by exposure to the elements, to the ravages of disease, and to their own self-destructive behavior,’’ he said. “Such chronic homelessness remains a blight on our streets and a blot on our conscience.’’

The mayor also said that his administration is continuing its commitment to increasing the supply of affordable housing....In addition to that, the mayor said that the city will take the $10 million it saved because the homeless population has declined from its peak three years ago, and use it to build more housing for the homeless and provide them with more services that will keep them from sliding back, such as job training and day care for children....

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/17/nyregion/17cnd-homeless.html?hp&ex=1153195200&en=106c426f850bbd11&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[babylonsister]

1. I applaud Mayor Bloomberg; hopefully this will be a raging

success for everyone and will provide a model for other cities to follow.

[sam sarrha]

6. they are sic'n the Adventists on them to drive them off.. preaching Jesus

will run em off if nothing else doesnt..

about a third of homeless are mentally ill with no health care

about a third are drug addicts and alcoholics

about a third had their jobs sent to china or just got back form soldiering in Iraq or have been back from Nam and need help they will never get. the concussions from explosions are causing brain damage and SERIOUS Depression because Dumb Sh*t Dubya didn't want to make sure the soldiers had helmet liners to prevent brain damage... the armour they finally got was allowed to be made 'smaller' and cheaper at a higher cost to the point it was nearly ineffective. once the HumV's got armored they were too heavy for the suspensions and now 85% of the deaths are due to HumV rollovers. but they dont count accidents do they for deaths in Iraq

[nam78_two]

2. great

good to see someone thinking about something positive and not more war and destruction.

[The_Casual_Observer]

3. Is it just me, or is Bloomberg the best mayor in the country?

I was in NY on Thanksgiving Day last year when the lamp fell down and hit 2 people. Within an hour or two, Bloomberg was right there at the location podium & all giving a complete rundown & taking action. He does this kind of thing all the time.

[Idioteque]

5. I don't understand why he is so hated around here.

He's a good liberal mayor who is a Republican out of convenience, not out of partisanship or ideology.

[mconvente]

10. he is definitely tolerable, but he does give money to other national repub

That's what a lot of people don't like about him - he himself indeed is pretty liberal, for a republican, but he'll stump for Shrub and donate to the RNC, which obviously is much more conservative.

[jumptheshadow]

13. Yep, he is one of the best

He has also started a major initiative against poverty that is both thoughtful and pragmatic. And he put a hefty chunk of the city's surplus aside to pay pensions of city employees in the future.

He is an extremely competent administrator and makes many of our other politicians, both Republican and Democratic, look like the hacks they are.

[NYC]

20. It's just you.

The plan regarding homelessness sounds good. I hope it works.

[darkstar7646]

4. Good, but he forgets one fundamental thing...

It would be nice if Bloomberg (and all mayors with similar problems) to keep in mind one thing.

It is of no benefit to be housed if there is no housing which is safer than the streets. Trust me, I am homeless from time to time, and when it comes down to the streets and hotels where drugs and violence run rampant, then it becomes a difficult discussion.

[UpInArms]

8. Welcome to DU, darkstar7646!

Glad to have you here :hi:

Take care and be safe!

[DeepModem Mom]

9. Welcome to DU, darkstar! Bloomberg may be addressing this --

From the article:

Two weeks ago, the mayor said, the city shut down the Emergency Assistance Unit, the intake center in the Bronx, which he called “the most visible emblem of the failures of the past and the bankruptcy of the conventional wisdom about homelessness.’’

[Viva_La_Revolution]

21. agreed. under a bridge can be much safer than the local shelter

Welcome to DU!

[C_U_L8R]

7. Any time I see "faith base group"

mentioned in the same sentence as any
government program I break out in a constitutional rash.
Ack.. it's reaaaally itchy.

[tkadmin]

11. Some homeless just want to be left alone

Many of them were mentally ill and those still suffering the
after-effects of the Nam.  They were released from treatment
facililities by an Executive Order and some just wanted to
live on the street.  (I understand that most homeless do not
fall into this catagory, but some do.)  You can put as much
money and opportunity in their hands and they still prefer
being homeless.

[DeepModem Mom]

12. Thanks for posting, tkadmin -- welcome to DU!

[Vidar]

14. Glad someone cares abou the homeless.

[Lindacooks]

15. Sorry, I don't trust any Repuke who talks about doing anything

'firmly'. That's just a right wing code word for force.

[WindRavenX]

16. compared to Guiliani...

Bloomberg is doing the right thing.

[HockeyMom]

17. Didn't Rudy want to throw them in Jail?

[WindRavenX]

18. lol, he did much worse

much, much worse :(

[union_maid]

19. Probably

At least I don't remember Rudy ever using the word "respectfully" when referring to treatment of the homeless. It does, at the very least, set a different tone.

[hezekkia]

22. finally!!

a republican in the news and it doesn't make me want to vomit.

:woohoo: