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