NYC Gives Homeless Ticket Out of Town

[sabra]

Source: CBS New/AP

Bloomberg Administration Buys One-Way Airfares to Alleviate Strain on Shelters

(AP) New York City is buying one-way plane tickets for homeless families to leave the city.

It's part of a program by Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration to keep the homeless out of the expensive shelter system, which costs $36,000 a year per family. More than 550 families have left the city since 2007. All it takes is for a relative to agree to take them in.

The city employs a travel agency for domestic travel and the Department of Homeless Services handles international travel.

City officials say there are no limits on where a family can be sent and families can reject the offer.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/07/29/national/main5195592.shtml?tag=stack

[WriteDown]

1. Interesting...

I'm glad some relatives are agreeing to take people in.

[Fumesucker]

7. Agreeing to take a relative in and actually doing so for a long period of time..

Are two *entirely* different things.

My experience with this sort of thing is that it's unlikely to last, the homeless will probably once again be homeless but the next time it will be in an area with which they are quite unfamiliar, thus compounding the problems of those homeless people.

I've seen this scenario now from both sides, as the person taking in a family member and as a family member being taken in, it's uncomfortable either way.

[joeybee12]

11. That was my first thought, also...

...I'm sure this is one more thing that Mayor Nitwit Bloomberg really hasn't thought through.

[No Elephants]

26. What makes you think Bloomberg did not think it through? Whether people are cared for in another

city or homeless in another city, it's all the problem of the other city, not his problem.

[raccoon]

20. Thank you. A local news station (SC) had an article about this. As the article said,

a local relative agreeing to take in relatives from NYC doesn't guarantee anything.

[Fumesucker]

8. Dupe.. self delete

[Oregone]

2. Fucking insane

"It's part of a program by Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration to keep the homeless out of the expensive shelter system, which costs $36,000 a year per family."

Yes, this is all great, since wherever they send them wont have costs incurred to house them. Riiiight.

It just shifts the responsibility elsewhere. But, its YOUR problem NYC.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

3. Once again, mayor bloomburg

ignores the problem and pawns the responsibility off on others.

Why am I not surprised?

[asksam]

4. What do you want from him? He's a ReThug through and through....

If it were up to him, there would be a sign at the entrance to New York saying "You must have a net worth of $3 million to enter."

[TheDebbieDee]

5. "the expensive shelter system, which costs $36,000 a year per family"

Wouldn't it just be cheaper to build these family housing during that year?

[no limit]

9. That's $3,000 a month. Something doesnt add up

Shit, that's almost more than I make in a month. And compared to my $700 a month rent you could get a mansion for 3K a month.

[dixiegrrrrl]

12. Let me help add it up for you.

You live in NYC, say, and you pay taxes.
which go to the Feds and the state.
A social service program is created one day, let's call it ...Homeless Shelter.
The Feds pay a certain amount, ( of YOUR money, and our money from other states)
the state kicks in an amount. ( Of your money)

So, let's follow a dollar.
The Fed writes Fed rules for the program, which have to be over sighted by a Federal person,
so 20 cents of each $ of the "budget" goes to that function,
then the state gets the money from the Feds, but has to pay people to "administer" those funds, so there goes another 20 cents, thus leaving 60 cents for the program,
but the program has a director at the county level, who always gets paid very well to administer the program funds, there goes 20 cents more, leaving 40 cents, and then the city level gets a cut for reporting to the county, leaving maybe 30 cents, to the agency actually providing the services, so maybe 20 cents is actually paid to staff, leaving 10 cents for shelter expenses per dollar.

I used to write grants for social service programs.

then when someone wants to prove the programs cost too much, they include the entire budget,
making it seem the clients are getting that much in services. But they are not.
In fact, the social service agencies NEED the clients, or else go out of business.

[no limit]

13. Thats absolutely insane if true. How can 90% of the cost be administration?

No business would ever be able to function like that.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

15. It's not a business persay...

It's a federal program.

[no limit]

16. But that's no excuse

Even non-profit organizations are ran like a business. Government should adopt a similar model.

[No Elephants]

27. Actually, if you look into a lot of charities, you might be surprised. Some of them

spend everything they take in on salaries and perks and costs of running their fundraisers, or darn near. And in the business model, a lot goes to salaries and profits. However you slice it, the taxpayer/consumer is screwn.

[dixiegrrrrl]

24. when the neo-cons outsourced social services to contractors, even less was available to clients.

We taxpayers already pay for a miitary, now we pay for a shadow military that costs 10 x more than the original military.
That is a "business model" that has been going on for years.

Do you honestly think that if all the allocated money went into the "fixing" the homeless or housing or poverty or AIDS or other social programs, we would even be needing those programs by now?

No...countless layers of beareaucracies are built up to provide jobs for bean counters and us Social Workers and the people who build the big office buildings for other people to sit in and do the
"Administering".
And funny thing, the problem never gets fixed. Despite the War On Poverty being started in the '60's.

[valerief]

6. Give me your energetic, your fabulously wealthy, your unrestrained elite.

No longer: Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses

[montanto]

10. Welcome to Los Angeles.

[grok]

14. Far from uncommon

I personally know of several cases in San Francisco where this has been done. Either Bus or Airplane tickets/vouchers.

What it (usually) involves is city-paid medical/legal expenses that can be rather extreme in the long run for the homeless, particularly those with drug/alcohol/mental issues. They get sent to where family support is available OR where they are "away" from an enabling environment.

Personally, I think it's worth it and cost effective. Some people survive better in a non-urban environment.

On the other hand, it oly works about half the time. Some miss their "ride" OR come back after a couple of years and resume their destrucive or homeless cycle.

[defendandprotect]

17. They are barred from creating permanent housing for them . . .

this is, of course, insanity . . .

We need more low income housing and a different attitude toward the homeless and the poor!

Give them $36,000 a year . . . I'm sure they'll find cheaper housing!!!

What crap!!!

[onenote]

18. is anyone forced to take a ticket?

if not, why the outrage? yes, a family member may regret the decision to take in the person. but that might happen with or without this program. On the other hand, without this program, someone might stay trapped in a shelter existence 1000s of miles away from a potential family support network.

[ima_sinnic]

19. $36K/yr? give them a freaking rent allowance for about 1/3 the cost

I know I have no idea, really, what rents are in NYC, since I live in rural Maine, but isn't $1K adequate? Even $2K would be $24K per year, still cheaper than their inept program. What a friggin dumbass thing. Oh, yeah, I forgot--to "administer" a rent program, they'd need another 150% or 200% to cover overhead. Oh well, forget it then. As long as incompetent, unimaginative, uncreative people are running things, there will always be major social problems.

[sarcasmo]

21. Lakeland Florida did this last year, or the year before.

[dixiegrrrrl]

25. Old southern custom, esp. with mentally ill. Called "Greyhound Therapy".

Sheriff Dept misc. fund, or on the spot collections, buy a ticket to the next county seat, shove them on the bus.
Last time I knew that happened was 1997.
It was my client.
I am not kidding.

[Skipperoo]

22. For a few this works

Nobody pretends this will help everybody, or even very many, but for a few it is a good solution.

550 families over three years out of many tens of thousands. I's gratified they will even provide a program that serves so few.

[24601]

23. I hope other cities have a reciprocal program to send their

homeless to NYC. Perhaps LA could charter a plane or cruise ship.

Dumping people is just wrong, whether hospitals or cities!