Care For the Homeless

Jeff Foreman, Director of Policy Care for the Homeless client leaders, including members of our Consumer Advisory Board, recently completed a nonpartisan Voter Registration Drive that signed up 254 new voters, all eligible to vote tomorrow. That’s a CFH Voter Registration record. It breaks last year’s record setting drive success. Our client leaders have the satisfaction of having helped people to register and some great memories from the effort. They registered people with past criminal records who didn’t know they had the right to vote. In New York anyone not currently incarcerated for a felony or on active parole (people on probation have the right to vote) has the right to vote. They also registered people who were homeless and thought not having a regular permanent fixed address meant they couldn’t register. But being poor or homeless certainly doesn’t mean you lose your right to vote. At Care for the Homeless we believe poor policy choices helped create the evi...

Jeff Foreman, Director of Policy New York is flush with conversation about the new city administration and the typical who is coming/who is going chatter, not to mention the interest in who the new City Council Speaker will be. It is exciting. And for homeless advocates there’s special excitement with a new Mayor committed to a progressive agenda that includes housing the homeless and 200,000 units of affordable housing. We’re also excited with the prospect of Councilwoman Letitia James, who stood with our Care for the Homeless contingent on the steps of City Hall at a recent United to End Homelessness rally, and Scott Stringer as new citywide officials. Mayor-elect de Blasio has taken on the most hopeful agenda to fight homelessness in New York City ever. His promise of 200,000 units of affordable housing, commitment to reinstate a priority for people experiencing homelessness to get NYCHA and Section 8 housing, and his pledge to never cut shelter beds for runaway and h...

Did you miss Care for the Homeless on AM 1600 WWRL this past Sunday? Care for the Homeless client leader David Broxton and Policy Director Jeff Foreman were featured on WWRL's Voices of Human Services radio show on Sunday, September 29, 2013. Invited to discuss our recent successful voter registration drive, David also shared his personal story of he overcome homelessness. "I had hit rock bottom. Care for the Homeless saved my life. Today, I'm living on the corner of good health and happiness." Did you miss the show? Want to listen to the interview again? Check out the podcast here (interview starts at 33:36). We thank the Human Services Council and AM 1600 WWRL for featuring Care for the Homeless.

  Jeff Foreman, Director of Policy One week after the much heralded 2013 New York City primary election and New Yorkers are still waiting for the “final” results. Did Bill deBlasio, who clearly got more votes than any other candidate on the Democratic ballot, garner enough votes to avoid an October 1 st run off election? Here are two facts we do know for sure: 1.       Only about 20% of the eligible registered voters cast a ballot. 2.       There is an October 1 run-off regardless of whether or not there’s one for Mayor. Fewer than half those eligible to vote have registered. If only 1 in 5 of the registered actually voted, that means only 10% of the people in New York City who could have participated cast a vote.  The run off already determined is for Public Advocate – ironically the position deBlasio now holds – and it’s between City Councilwoman Letitia James and State Senator Daniel Squadron on the Demo...

Last week, t he client leaders of Care for the Homeless completed their most successful voter registration drive in their history. They turned 247 completed new voter registration forms in to the New York City Board of Elections and handed out more than 1,250 additional voter registration applications. The drive by the Care for the Homeless clients included 14 outreach activities at Care for the Homeless sites in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens, aimed at homeless or formerly homeless people. It was a nonpartisan effort, not endorsing any candidate or party, but urging everyone to exercise their right to register and vote. Outreach efforts were scheduled at homeless shelters, soup kitchens, drop-in centers and places people experiencing homelessness gather. “The most exciting thing,” according to longtime Care for the Homeless client leader David Broxton, “is that we registered a number of new voters who thought they weren’t eligible.” He said that happened becaus...

Voting is a critical basic right for every American. Election day is one time during the year when every participating citizen gets an equal share of decision-making power, but you have to be registered to vote. The Care for the Homeless client Boards, our Consumer Advisory Board and our HIV Advisory Council will soon be sponsoring their annual nonpartisan voter registration drive – but right now we’re urging everyone to get registered. In New York state the law (and a 1984 court decision) guarantees the right to vote to homeless people whether they live in a shelter, a hotel or on the streets. You don’t need a permanent house address, but you can list whatever address you are currently at so long as you have an address to receive your voter registration card at (that can be a shelter, drop in center or somewhere else). Here are the additional requirements to register and vote: ·          Be a United States citizen ·   ...