MESSAGE
| DATE | 2021-02-21 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
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| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout - NYLXS] Homelessness problem stubburnly gets worst adn
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nypost.com
NYC subway 'killer' proves that just housing the homeless achieves nothing
Jason Curtis Anderson
6-7 minutes
On Friday, Feb. 12, homeless man Rigoberto Lopez boarded the
Manhattan-bound A train. Over the next 14 hours, two homeless people
were found murdered in their sleep, and another two were severely
injured from multiple stab wounds. Quickly nicknamed “The A-Train
Ripper,” Lopez’s alleged rampage also managed to leave the entire city
terrified — a feat I didn’t think possible given how completely numb
we’ve become to the daily reports of daylight shootings, slashings, and
straphangers being pushed onto subway lines.
Previously arrested four times, including for the assault of his own
father, Lopez also has a history of mental illness, and his last known
residence was a motel shelter in Brooklyn. Our city has been paying top
dollar to house our homeless population in hotels around the city, a
decision that has led to chaos.
With $3.2 billion of New York City tax dollars spent on homelessness in
2019, one would assume our City Council would have the situation well
under control. But instead, the homeless problem has soared to new
heights and is now a visible and dangerous problem in every neighborhood
and subway line.
You might assume New York’s homeless problem was worse in the 1980s. It
wasn’t. The average number of people sleeping in shelters per year
throughout that decade was actually 23,295. Our current surge in
homelessness seems to have started in 2006, and steadily climbed to the
122,926 people who slept in NYC’s homeless shelters in 2020. No matter
how many billions of dollars we throw at this problem, the problem just
gets worse.
The numbers of homeless people have soared in New York City in recent
years, even as billions are spent to fix the problem.
The numbers of homeless people have soared in New York City in recent
years, even as billions are spent to fix the problem.
Bill Farrington
Had we decided to write checks and just hand that $3.2 billion over to
the homeless population, we could have given every man, woman, and child
exactly $26,031.92. Think about that. That amount could cover a person’s
first and last month’s rent, security deposit, utilities and furniture.
If this money were given to a family of three, they would be starting
their new life with a $78,095 nest egg, an amount many New Yorkers have
never even held in a personal savings account.
So what are we doing wrong?
Our leaders insist the main reason for homelessness is a lack of
affordable housing. So the city spends wildly on housing our homeless,
paying $237 per person per day to put them up at the Lucerne hotel, to
cite one example. If you were to go on Hotels.com and search for hotel
rooms in Manhattan, the average going rate is currently $90 per day.
Since 2017, the city has also shelled out $274 million to the Bronx
Parent Housing Network, one of the city’s largest operators of homeless
shelters, formerly run by Victor Rivera. It recently came to light that
10 women, including homeless women staying in his shelters, have accused
Rivera of sexual assault and harassment, and two were paid settlements
to keep quiet.
And yet, our elected leaders insist on seeing everything through the
lens of compassion and victimhood, shelling out for beds in hotels, when
we need to be focused on the root of this problem.
There are many reasons why a person ends up homeless, and it is often a
combination of factors. Do women end up homeless after suffering from
domestic abuse? Of course they do. Are there homeless families with
young children who have sadly ended up in our shelter system from a mix
of bad luck, a lack of affordable housing, and no fault of their own?
Yes, without question.
The city pays $237 per night to put each homeless person up at the
Lucerne hotel — $147 more than the going rate.
The city pays $237 per night to put each homeless person up at the
Lucerne hotel — $147 more than the going rate.
Robert Miller
But, according to Samhsa.gov, the majority of homeless people in the
United States — over 60 percent — suffer from lifelong mental-health
issues, and over 80 percent suffer from lifelong drug and alcohol
addiction.
If we are going to make any headway on this issue, we have to
acknowledge the facts: Mental illness and addiction are preventing most
of our homeless population from being able to properly take care of
themselves and function in a civilized society. It is time to
acknowledge that the activists are not right, and the main cause of
homelessness is not a lack of affordable housing.
Better services that target mental illness and addiction should be
paramount. The city’s $1 billion mental-health program ThriveNYC has
failed because it shunned the mentally ill while focusing on “Improving
Mental Wellness.” It’s essentially a hotline for people having a bad
day, as opposed to addressing serious mental illness with trained
professionals, clubhouse programs and court-mandated treatments.
It’s a shame we sink so much money into a program that only scratches
the surface of mental illness when Kendra’s Law — which mandates
outpatient treatment for those deemed a danger to society — has been
proven to reduce suicides, arrests, homelessness and incarceration.
But, because the city has shied away from enforcing this law, Rigoberto
Lopez — and others like him — aren’t just slipping through the cracks of
the system. There’s simply no system in place to prevent tragedies like
the one he allegedly caused.
“Unfortunately state policy is not ‘treatment before tragedy,’ ” said
Nicole Palame, a former mental-health professional turned political
organizer with InformNYC.org. “Tragedy is actually a prerequisite for
treatment in New York. We need real legislation focused on real results.”
In the meantime, we can no longer sacrifice our own public safety in the
name of political correctness. If our politicians keep offering us more
of the same solutions that have increased our homeless population, then
we should all expect their numbers to grow — and our city to fall
further into the abyss.
Jason Curtis Anderson is a New Yorker. His “Letter to the Mayor” went
viral earlier this year.
--
So many immigrant groups have swept through our town
that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological
proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
http://www.mrbrklyn.com
DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS - RI Safir 2002
http://www.nylxs.com - Leadership Development in Free Software
http://www.brooklyn-living.com
Being so tracked is for FARM ANIMALS and extermination camps,
but incompatible with living as a free human being. -RI Safir 2013
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