New York City demands rent from the homeless

The New York City administration of Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently began charging rent to some of the 9,000 homeless families who are presently living in publicly run city shelters. About 2,000 families, including single mothers who have minimum wage or other low-paying jobs, are expected to be affected. They are being told that they must pay hundreds of dollars a month to stay in the shelters. The city claims that their homeless shelter “rent” will not exceed 50 percent of their income.

According to a report issued by the Coalition for the Homeless a few weeks ago, the number of new families entering the system in 2008 is greater than in any year since the 1980s. The 9,400 families currently in shelters represent more than 28,000 people, including 16,000 children.

The coalition further reports, “Over the past decade, the number of homeless families sleeping in New York City shelters and welfare hotels has nearly doubled. The average stay for homeless families in the municipal shelter system is currently 10 months.”

In addition to rising joblessness, housing cost, among the steepest in the US, is a major contributor to homelessness. Affordable apartments are fast disappearing. According to the report, between 2005 and 2008, the city lost nearly 55,000 apartments with rents below $800/month and 80,000 more renting for less than $1,000.

The billionaire mayor, so willing to comply with this state-mandated attack on the poorest sections of the working class, showed no similar willingness to comply when the legislature recently considered raising taxes on the wealthiest sections of the population to help close the record budget deficit. “We love the rich people,” said Bloomberg, explaining that his fellow billionaires and multi-millionaires would pick up and leave the city if they were asked to pay anything more in taxes.

All of these regressive measures are designed to place the weight of the crisis created by Wall Street’s financial speculation and criminality squarely on the backs of working people. With the move to collect rent from the homeless, this general policy has reached an unprecedented level of callousness and brutality.

Source: World Socialist Web Site