Thursday, October 18, 2012

DOWN AND OUT IN THE BIG APPLE

If any city could be said to be the unofficial world capital, it would be New York, though neither capital of the United States or New York state. Nevertheless, Wall Street, the very pulse of the world’s economy, is here.

One of the many songs that glorify the city, “ New York, New York” contains the line “ these vagabond shoes are starting to walk” . According to a recent survey, which was featured in the Toronto Star (September 29), there were plenty of vagabond shoes already walking in it, particularly children’s. Nineteen thousand children stay in homeless shelters every night, part of a record shelter population of 41,000.

The city’s poverty rate increased for the third consecutive year with another 74,000, falling below the level in 2011. According to the Census Bureau data released in September, there are now 1,700,000 people living in poverty in New York. The greatest disparity of wealth in the five boroughs that comprise New York, is in Manhattan where the wealthiest fifth of the population makes 40 times more than the poorest fifth.

This does not mean that all who apply for shelter are accepted. A study by New York’s Coalition for the Homeless, said, in the past year, one third of families who applied were accepted, down from 52 percent in 2007. There arc 228 shelters in New York which collectively are unable to cope. The cost to the city is $3,000 a month per family, which is three times the average cost of housing subsidies that once kept the most at-risk New Yorkers in their homes.

As always, when capitalism creates a mess there are organizations that attempt to grapple with it. In this case, it is PATH, the city-run Prevention Assistance and Temporary Housing Bureau.

As always, there are folks who wish to make a profit from people’s misery. John Jenkins is permanently outside the doors of PATH signing up the newly homeless for a transport company, A&A Moving. The city allows a grant of $700 per family to store belongings of the newly evicted, for a few months. In this respect the city acts as a pawnbroker. Those unable to buy back their property, after a few months, forfeit them, with the city selling them at an auction.

According to Mr. Jenkins, “ It’s a constant flow. Families are coming to PATH all the time, every day. Angry people, angry staff. People turned away with nothing. People told to ‘Put a blanket in your mother’s bathtub and sleep there.’” But the worst is all these kids. Bloomberg should be embarrassed. What’s going to become of these children? What kind of chance do they have?

Though PATH obviously can’t cope, it’s a case of, “ Don’t worry folks, they are not the only ones the homeless can turn to.”

Homes for the Homeless operates a network of American family inns, offering childhood education, on-site child care, homework help and summer camp programs for homeless kids.

Denise Scaravella worked for the above for 25 years, which accentuates the fact that, as long as capitalism lasts, there will always be homeless. Now she works for Park Slope Christian Help in Brooklyn, which offers shelter space for nine homeless mothers with newborn babies.

Park Slope has a large kitchen and plenty of volunteers to help. According to Ms. Scaravella, “ We feed 150 to 200 people every day. I honestly don’t know where they would go if we weren’t here.”

One may wonder how compassionate are those who are not threatened by the specter of being homeless. One such worthy, Mitt Romney, is (according to Patrick Marquee a policy analyst for Coalition for the Homeless) all heart. “ Much of the country, even some New Yorkers with long experience, think in stereotypes about who’s homeless and who’s not, and the image that comes to mind is an older, middle-aged man panhandling, probably suffering from mental illness.” said Marquee.

“The reality is that three-quarters of the population in New York shelters are families – and the fastest growing number is children. You add to that the stigma around homelessness, with the extremist version articulated by Romney, that says basically, when people are down on their luck, it’s their fault.”


“And finally, you hear the comments about Romney wanting to end the Federal Department of Housing and the budget proposals of (vice-presidential nominee) Paul Ryan, involving potentially dramatic cuts to affordable housing programs. It’s incredibly disturbing.”


One person who doesn’t seem overly disturbed is Mayor Michael Bloomberg whose personal wealth was assessed at $25 billion and is now the tenth wealthiest man in America and, presumably, has no fear of being homeless in his immediate future.

His Honor, demonstrated his vast compassion in August by claiming the city shelters were, “A much more pleasurable experience than they ever had before.” And to think some people go to Las Vegas to live it up.

Infuriated community leaders in Brooklyn demanded Bloomberg spend a night at the Salvation Army Bushwick Family Residence, which they claim is unsafe and unsanitary.

Though many of Bloomberg’s critics admit the shelters are an improvement on those of the 1930s, nevertheless, demand has well outstripped supply. The economic crisis, falling incomes, unemployment and the rising cost of housing in New York are driving people into homelessness. The money to get the neediest into affordable, permanent housing has caused the shelter population to increase considerably.

The Bloomberg government defended itself by pointing to other areas, including the Homebase Program, a network of offices throughout PATH, aimed at federally funded assessment in 2011, estimated that the program saved 1,700 families and 3,400 children from becoming homeless over a span of four years. Bloomberg’s people said it meant seventeen less shelters and saved more than $60 million in tax dollars. Since the capitalist class pays the bulk of taxation, they would probably be glad to hear it.

Critics say the Homebase program only works for families who fall behind in their rent, but continue to be employed. Whether the city administrators are spending enough to adequately provide shelter for the homeless is not the point. Whether people in all walks of life care enough, is also, not the point.

The plain bleak reality of life under capitalism is that everything has a price tag and if the vicissitudes of the economy sometimes means one can’t afford it, then one doesn’t get it.

It matters little whether politicians care or not. Those who do waste their time trying to solve an unsolvable problem; time that would be better spent away from capitalist politics; time that would be better spent working for the only sure solution for homelessness – A Socialist Society.

STEVE SHANNON
Socialist Party of Canada

No comments: