New York City Expected To Charge Employed Shelter Residents Rent
In 1997 a New York state law required homeless people to pay rent if they could afford it. However, the city never adhered to this law. Last year the city attempted to charge rent but dropped these plans when the Legal Aid Society threatened a lawsuit.
Enforcing this law would require some shelter residents to pay as much as 44% of their income. This is scheduled to go into effect as early as September and would raise anywhere from $2 million to $3 million a year.
Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs claims that 15% of homeless people in shelters earn enough money to pay rent. She further stated that the amount would be on a sliding scale depending on income. A family of three making $10,000 a year would pay $36 a month.
“It makes far more sense to allow those families to save their meager funds in order to be able to get out of the shelter system sooner,” added Steven Banks, chief attorney of the Legal Aid Society.
Is this really fair to burden those who have the least in this rough economic climate? To start a discussion about this issue, join Praxis on facebook.