Temp stop to city relocation program
BY MARK HALLUM
New York City has temporarily halted its program
to provide special assistance for homeless
residents relocated to New Jersey.
The cities of Newark and New York seem to have
resolved a dispute over the de Blasio administration
relocating homeless families across the Hudson River
and sometimes under squalid living conditions.
As a result of a face-to-face between the two cities,
there will be a temporary halt to the Human Resources
Administration’s Special One-Time Assistance
program and Newark will have a full list of people
placed in order to provide services, Newark Mayor
Ras Baraka said.
The pause in SOTA placements will only pertain
to Newark.
Newark fi led a lawsuit in federal court a week ago
claiming that the SOTA program did little to vet
housing where people were placed in Newark and
other towns.
The city’s own Department of Investigation delved
into the matter itself backing up claims from Baraka
that housing was often not inspected before families
were suddenly forced to cope with apartments and
houses that posed dangers to their health and safety.
A day after meeting with city offi cials, Baraka said
Tuesday that his administration would have greater
PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHAEL APPLETON/MAYORAL PHOTOGRAPHY
OFFICE/FLICKR
Mayors Bill de Blasio and Ras Baraka of
Newark, N.J.
involvement in making sure SOTA recipients are not
left out in the cold.
“So far, we’ve gotten much of what we asked for
and we look forward to continue to work collaboratively
with New York City to improve the quality of
life for their SOTA recipients,” said Baraka.
Baraka’s administration pressed for a list of SOTA
recipients in their jurisdiction and the addresses of
where they live for the sake of providing social services
and protection from bad landlords.
“This Administration wholeheartedly believes that
people have the right to a roof over their heads and
to choose where they want to live,” City Hall spokeswoman
Freddi Goldstein said. “In the spirit of productive
conversations and with the goal of moving
toward an improved program, we will be temporarily
pausing placements in Newark. We will resume discussions
on Thursday and if a satisfactory agreement
is not met, we will fi le a formal challenge to the ordinance
the next day.”
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14 December 12, 2019 Schneps Media
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