From the Coalition for the
Homeless: “In May 2021, there
were 51,882 homeless people,
including 15,930 homeless
children, sleeping each night
in the New York City municipal
shelter system. A near-record
20,064 single adults slept
in shelters in May 2021.” New
York City has a record number
of homeless people, and
that number is growing every
day. And yet, the city’s
strategy to deal with this is
building more and more shelters.
The city is also throwing
billions of dollars into this
system every year. “Spending
on homelessness in New
York City has more than doubled
to $3.2 billion from fiscal
year 2014 to 2019,” from an excerpt
from a report by Scott
Stringer’s office in 2019.
Building more shelters
with more beds on every
block in this city will solve
nothing. It creates warehouses
to “store” people to
get them off the streets at
least part of the time at best,
and, at worst, such a concentration
of the homeless (especially
Single Room Occupancies)
can negatively influence
the communities in which
they are placed as well as
maintain the homeless in a
perpetual cycle of homelessness.
This is like trying to put
a Band-Aid on a hemorrhage.
There are so many complex
issues here it needs to be broken
down.
There are the individual
homeless populations, each
having different needs. Often
the homeless families
(women and children) are
fleeing domestic violence and
the single mother could not
support her family without
assistance. The working poor
families may find themselves
homeless due to COVID or the
fact that they earn too little to
pay the rent and take care of
their families.
Hip Hop Blvd honors Melle Mel
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, J 36 ULY 16-22, 2021 BTR
Then there are the SRO
populations, many of whom
have continuing unmet needs
for addiction, substance abuse
and mental health issues.
What is the city doing in
these shelters to meet these
needs? Should these people
receive supportive housing
to help get them back on their
feet (if possible) instead? Is just
putting them in a bed in a barracks
enough? It is certainly
cheaper in the short run, but
not so in the long run, as very
few can break out of the cycle
of homelessness.
And here is another perspective.
We are one of only a
very few states that has a right
to shelter law, meaning that
anyone who shows up at an intake
center must be sheltered
immediately, no questions
asked. This has also made us
a magnet for the homeless of
other states.
On the most cynical side,
many people are making hundreds
of thousands of dollars
from the shelter system.
There are middle man developers
who are building them
— like the $360 million being
spent for the 200-bed SRO to
be built on Blondell Avenue
— and landlords getting enormous
prices and rents from
the city, so there is very little
financial incentive to fix the
broken shelter system, as it
has become a profit center fort
many.
And now the homeless
and their allies are marching
and suing the city to stay
in the luxury hotels they were
placed in due to COVID instead
of going back to shelters.
They insist that every
case must be evaluated individually.
This will take many
years, as there are thousands
of homeless, and they know it.
But who wouldn’t prefer a luxury
hotel at the taxpayers’ expense
to a city-run shelter?
But, we the taxpayers are
paying for all of this. Now
I am starting to ask myself
questions like, “Why am I
struggling to pay my property
taxes for a 100-year-old house,
and having one-third of my
full-time pay go to taxes while
a homeless family is staying
in a luxury hotel or apartment
at my expense?”
I understand there are
many aspects to this. I also
understand we need compassion.
But it seems to me the
city’s “policies,” — if you can
call them that — have only
been creating more homeless,
more expenses and more unfairness,
not just to the homeless,
but also to the working
class that supports them —
more corruption and absurdities.
To me, building a $360 million
homeless shelter for single
men on a known contamination
site, instead of one of
the thousands of vacant cityowned
lots is a fiscal outrage.
It can only be viewed as a
sweetheart deal for someone,
but certainly not for the community
or the taxpayers footing
the bill.
Stay safe, get vaccinated.
Until we meet again.
On July 7, Hip Hop Blvd had an
award and dinner banquet for the
legendary Melle Mel of Grandmaster
Flash and The Furious Five.
This group, who was inducted
into the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame in 2007, is known for elevating
hip-hop music and making it
“a weapon for social change.”
The event was held at Con Sofrito
in the Bronx. Jimmy Rodriguez,
owner of Con Sofrito, has
been a staunch supporter of Hip
Hop Blvd and the hip-hop community.
Al Pizarro, CEO of Hip Hop
Blvd, Renee Mickens, Hip Hop
Blvd’s awards director, and Bigg
Jeff, of Hip Hop Blvd’s artist public
relations, did a fantastic job hosting
the event. Sponsors included
The Kingdom Building Church,
United Coalition Of Humanity,
Royal Hustlers Promotions and
Empire Blue Shield.
Gospel Gabe performed his
song “You A Superstar” in honor
of those who are superstars in the
lives of others. DJ Flame — formally
known as DJ La Spank of
the first all female hip-hop group
The Legendary Mercedes Ladies
— even jumped on the mic. Half
Pint Davis presented The Hip
Hop Blvd Award to Grandmaster
Melle Mel and Jerry “Fast Feet”
Fontanez from the Rock Steady
Crew showed off his breakdancing
skills.
Con Sofrito was filled with good
food, drinks, laughter and good
music. The Bronx is considered
the home of hip-hop and a diverse
set of people with amazing gifts.
-with reporting by Jewel Webber