Many Homeless People Just Like Those Displaced By Hurricane Sandy
Care for the Homeless client leader Gayle Dorsky, and CFH
Policy Director Jeff Foreman, appeared before an emergency hearing of the
Council General Welfare Committee on Friday to testify about the plight of
Hurricane Sandy evacuees still without stable housing, and the needs of tens of
thousands of homeless New Yorkers. They spoke up for the Sandy victims still
homeless, displaced through no fault of their own. But they also spoke for
other people experiencing homelessness.
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| Client leader Gayle Dorsky |
The emergency hearing drew an overflow crowd, many of whom
had to watch portions of the hearing by closed-circuit in an adjoin room, as
well as ten members of Council, two who weren't even members of that committee.
Presided over by Chairwoman Annabel Palma, the four hour meeting included
testimony by city Department of Homeless Services Commissioner Seth Diamond, as
well advocates like Care for the Homeless and Hurricane Sandy victims, about
196 of whom are facing a May 1st termination of city support that
may make them homeless.
“Many of the evacuees,” Foreman said, “were very
similar to many New Yorkers caught in homelessness, or on the verge of it.
Those at risk of homelessness are typically low-income workers or people with
very low income or disabled on a very-low fixed income. Like the Sandy victims,
a displacement by natural causes or emergency not completely in their control –
like domestic violence, aging out of foster care, illness, divorce, or a
thousand other life circumstances – can easily push them over the edge of a
risk of homelessness into homelessness itself. Many of the Sandy evacuees may
have lost their jobs along with their homes, and their displacements disrupted
their social connections and other supports that made their daily existence
easier – just like most other homeless people.”
Gayle Dorsky, who serves on one of CFH’s consumer advisory
boards, told Council members about the added heartbreak of becoming homeless
when going through already trying difficulties like illness or domestic
violence. She asked for help for both Sandy victims and others experiencing
homelessness. Foreman and Dorsky gave each member of the Council committee a
copy of the Care for the Homeless Policy Agenda to End Homelessness (find it here)
and urged them to commit the will and the resources to end homelessness as
we know it in New York City by adopting better public policies. You can read
the full CFH testimony here.
