NY Daily News

"Since taking office in January 2022, hallmarks of Mayor Adams’ administration have involved creating a panic around crime, scapegoating NYC’s most vulnerable populations, and slashing social services despite a projected budget surplus." -Marika Dias, Director, SNP

City Limits

"[Marika] Dias, of the Safety Net Project, added that while shelter screening is nothing new, she sees a “categorical difference” in the establishment of a system that sorts people based on their national origin and time of arrival in New York."

Gothamist

"In a phone interview, Marika Dias, an attorney who is the managing director of the Safety Net Project, said the settlement agreement effectively creates a “separate but unequal system” that is unavoidably tied to race."

The City

“This is not a safeguard of the right to shelter,” the Safety Net Project tweeted on X. “This is a xenophobic rollback.”

NY Daily News

"The vast majority of homeless people's interactions with outreach teams don’t result in transport to shelter, according to NYPD data obtained via a Freedom of Information request by the Urban Justice Center’s Safety Net Project."

City Limits

“Across the board we’ve been continuing to see people having significant issues with the process in general, in terms of being able to complete interviews, [and] being able to get their recertifications processed,” said Helen Strom, benefits and homeless advocacy director at the Safety Net Project."

City Limits

“They’ve been closing—or as they say, relocating centers to other centers—and so they are leaving people with no other options and forcing them to do things remotely or online or by phone,” said [Adriana] Mendoza of the Safety Net Project.

Gothamist

"Maria Wallas, 53, said she used the Mount Eden office when she needed help applying for SNAP. She also volunteers for the Safety Net Project. “These centers benefit the people in the community so they can get the assistance that they need,” she said. “Who suffers [when they close]? I suffer. Everybody that lives around here suffers.”

Gothamist

“It is absolutely, positively insane. That is not something that should happen, you knew your numbers were at 28%, you said you would do better, where is the doing better part?” asked Diana Ramos, a volunteer with Safety Net Activists [of the Safety Net Project at UJC] who also received public benefits.

City Limits

“It's more accessible, people don't have to leave their home,” said Charisma White of the Safety Net Project at the Urban Justice Center, a benefits recipient who helped push for 2019 legislation requiring quarterly reports on application denials. “But if you're going to use that service, you have to make sure it's working at top notch standards.”