News & Press
Same shift, different days: Advocates accuse city of homeless encampment sweep bias for redeploying NYPD officers and DHS agents over and over again
AMNY
Social worker with the Safety Net Project [of the Urban Justice Center] Craig Hughes who often spends time speaking with the homeless is concerned about the fact the same officers and DHS workers are spotted at Manhattan encampments, feeling that when DHS arrives at a site flanked by the NYPD it makes them an extension of law enforcement.‘Fascism works like that’: homeless New Yorkers struggle amid police sweeps
Guardian
“Peter Malvan, a homeless advocate at the Safety Net Project of the Urban Justice Center, said even though a lot of people had their belongings organized and cleaned, their belongings weren’t spared from being thrown away.”The City Touts Progress on Street Homeless Outreach. Critics Say It’s More of the Same
City Limits
“If their argument is that they’ve somehow made sweeps better—our team has been on many sweeps, and this is the exact same process the last administration did,” said Craig Hughes, a social worker with the Urban Justice Center’s Safety Net Project, who also compared the policy to the “broken windows” policing style of Rudy Giuliani’s administration in the 1990s.City Hall: 39 people placed in shelter after hundreds of encampment sweeps
Gothamist
Craig Hughes, a social worker with the Safety Net Project of the Urban Justice Center, was skeptical about the placement figures released by the administration for the prior year, saying now was the first time the city had put out encampment-specific numbers.Couple thought to be homeless killed on subway tracks: NYPD
Gothamist
“People have found themselves chased from the subways, from the sidewalks, and from the parks, further to the margins and further from support,” said Helen Strom, with the Safety Net Project of the Urban Justice Center, in a statement.NYC’s filled just 200 of 2,500 empty apartments for the homeless since Post exposé
New York Post
“‘I don’t think we’ve seen anything different,’ said Kathleen Cash, an advocate at the Urban Justice Center’s Safety Net Project. ‘Our clients continue to languish on the streets and in shelter.’”Amid crackdown on homeless people in the subway and encampments, city to close shelter in Financial District
Gothamist
"'Really concerning to see the city move to close one of these locations at the same time people on the street are repeatedly telling the city that they don't feel safe in the congregate shelter system and that we need more locations like that,' said Helen Strom, director of benefits and homeless advocacy at the Urban Justice Center’s Safety Net Project."Mayor Proposes 1,400 Shelter Beds to Move Homeless People Off Streets
New York Times
"Craig Hughes, a senior social worker with the [Safety Net Project of the] Urban Justice Center who advocates on behalf of the city’s homeless population, said that what his clients really needed were private rooms as well as permanent housing placements they could access without going through the shelter system."Mayor Proposes 1,400 Shelter Beds to Move Homeless People Off Streets
NYTimes
“Craig Hughes, a senior social worker with the Urban Justice Center who advocates on behalf of the city’s homeless population, said that what his clients really needed were private rooms as well as permanent housing placements they could access without going through the shelter system."Mayor Proposes 1,400 Shelter Beds to Move Homeless People Off Streets
NYTimes
“‘Really concerning to see the city move to close one of these locations at the same time people on the street are repeatedly telling the city that they don't feel safe in the congregate shelter system and that we need more locations like that,’ said Helen Strom, director of benefits and homeless advocacy at the Urban Justice Center’s Safety Net Project.”New York’s Encampments Aren’t Going Anywhere
NY City Lens
“Per internal city documents obtained by the Safety Net Project of the Urban Justice Center, the city conducted 4,859 sweeps from May 2021 through October 2021. That stretch, toward the end of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, broke a years-long pattern of a hundred sweeps or fewer a month.”At Bronx Welcome Center, NYC Tests New Approach to Shelter for Street Homeless
City Limits
“Craig Hughes, a social worker with the Urban Justice Center’s Safety Net Project, said moving people from one shelter to another can have “acutely traumatizing and destabilizing” effects and recommended that the city allow people to stay in the hotel until they get an apartment.”Choose people and housing over crackdowns
NY Daily News
In 2017, organizing by NYC tenants won a groundbreaking right to counsel in eviction proceedings that has had stunning success: With tenants now entitled to representation, 84% of tenants with lawyers are able to stay in their homes. Now, in the name of returning to business as usual, this essential right is being trampled by the courts...[and] the result will be displacement and a rapid growth in homelessness.On Homelessness, Eric Adams Has Made Sadism New York’s Official Policy
Jacobin
“We routinely see them throwing out people’s belongings,” Helen Strom, benefits and homeless advocacy director at the Safety Net Project, a direct services provider, told City & State New York.NYC Bureaucracy Kept Qualified Homeless Out of Thousands of Vacant Apartments
NY Daily News
Helen Strom, director of benefits and homeless advocacy at the Urban Justice Center’s Safety Net Project…blamed the reason for that disparity on a rigid system that tends to stymie the needy and poor instead of helping them.Inside NYC’s Street Homeless Sweeps, Rapid Responses and Signs of Futility
City Limits
“Safety Net Project, outspoken critics of the sweeps policy, said outreach teams making cleanup recommendations only sabotage their own efforts and undermine the trust they must earn from homeless New Yorkers as they encourage them to move to shelter.”Advocates Condemn Adams’ “Violent” Sweep of East Village Homeless Encampment
CBS NY
"'It was awful, it was stupid, and it was violent,' said Helen Strom, director of homeless advocacy for Safety Net Project...'What the mayor should be doing is he should be sending out housing specialists to get people into apartments, instead of spending hundreds of thousands of tax payer money on police.'"Several Arrests Made as NYPD Clears East Village Homeless Encampment
CBS News
“The city should use all this energy and all of this money to get people into apartments," said Helen Strom, of the Safety Net Project.”Mayor Adams Removes Homeless Encampments, Expands Shelters
Our Time Press
“In January, according to the Urban Justice Center, the city conducted 133 cleanups, over half of them in Manhattan.”New York City Workers Keep Throwing Out Homeless People’s Belongings
NYN Media
“'We routinely see them throwing out people’s belongings,' said Helen Strom, benefits and homeless advocacy director at the Safety Net Project, a direct services provider where employees have observed many sweeps firsthand."‘This is Where We Make Our Stand’: Homeless New Yorkers Refuse to Leave at East Village Camp Sweep
Gothamist
“Helen Strom, with the Safety Net Project of the Urban Justice Center, observed much of the confrontation over the course of the day. 'I just watched probably $100,000 be spent to violently arrest a homeless person who needs an apartment and is just trying to survive in a tent,' Strom said."Housing Advocates Rally Outside City Hall Against City Effort to Clear Encampments
NY City Lens
“Sleeping in a room with 18 people or so, you have to worry about someone standing over you,” Sarah Wilson, an advocate with the Safety Net Project of the Urban Justice Center and VOCAL New York, said during the rally. “Stabilization beds, those are what we need…independent rooms.”The Cruel Theater of Encampment Sweeps
Curbed
“The Adams administration claims that it was storing property for the residents of these demolished camps, but Urban Justice Center witnesses at clearances say that outreach workers were telling residents they didn’t have any way to store their belongings."Adams’ Homeless Sweeps Have Hit Hundreds of Encampments — Only 5 People Have Accepted Shelter
Gothamist
“'This is not ‘compassionate,’ it is a tragedy,' said Helen Strom, with the Safety Net Project of the Urban Justice Center. “'It’s time to stop this cruelty and redirect his focus to offering people housing.'”The City is Pushing Homeless New Yorkers Off the Streets and Subways. Where Will They Go?
City Limits
“'People deserve privacy and safety,' advocates from the Urban Justice Center’s Safety Net Project tweeted Tuesday. 'There are thousands of empty hotel rooms,' they added, furthering a call to provide more desirable accommodations for people coming off the streets.”New York City to Remove Around 150 Homeless Encampments
Wall Street Journal
“'Sweeps really only chase people from place to place, resulting in destabilization and criminalization,' said Helen Strom, benefits and homeless advocacy director at the Safety Net Project of the Urban Justice Center, in a statement Tuesday. 'If Mayor Adams were serious about resolving street homelessness, he would stop repeating the same inhumane, failed policing strategies of the past.'”New York’s Mayor Eric Adams Orders Dismantling of Homeless Encampments
World Socialist Website
“The latest sweeps against the homeless are not a new tactic. According to the advocacy group the Urban Justice Center, there were a total of 9,600 such actions between 2016 and 2021, more than 6,000 of them in the last year of the de Blasio administration.”Dozens of City Workers Sent to Clear Homeless Encampment Under BQE
Gothamist
“The city conducted 6,604 sweeps during the last year of the de Blasio administration, according to data obtained through Freedom of Information requests from the Safety Net Project of the Urban Justice Center.”Adams Says Encampments of Homeless People Will Be Cleared
New York Times
“Craig Hughes, a supervising social worker at the [Safety Net Project of the] Urban Justice Center, said the mayor’s plan was an escalation of a longstanding city approach that 'has always been an effort to hide homelessness rather than to get people housed' and that invariably 'leaves people more precarious than they were beforehand.'"Enough units to house all NYC’s homeless are sitting vacant: survey
NY Post
“A “bureaucratic nightmare” has left 2,500 city-funded apartments for homeless New Yorkers who need mental health care and other social services open — enough units to house every person living on the streets or in the subways, The Post has learned...Getting an applicant into supportive housing is a bureaucratic nightmare,” added Kathleen Cash, an advocate at the Urban Justice Center’s Safety Net Project.”Investigators Search for Suspect in Fatal Shootings of Homeless People in NY and DC
NY1
Watch this short video to hear a response from our Safety Net Project.2021 Was Deadliest Year on Record for Homeless New Yorkers
City Limits
“Every one of these deaths is a tragedy that was likely preventable,” said Peter Malvan, a homeless rights advocate with the Safety Net Project. “Housing is a basic human need, and housing is what homeless New Yorkers need—not constant harassment by city agencies.”Eviction cases “overwhelming” legal services 6 weeks after moratorium’s end
The Real Deal
“Marika Dias, an attorney at the Urban Justice Center, said the city should cut the requirement that tenants must prove their ability to pay rent later down the line and increase available funding."“Those days are over” / “Esos días se terminaron”
Manhattan Times
“The MTA rules the mayor plans to rely on are unlawful and discriminate against homeless New Yorkers,” [Peter] Malvan [of the Safety Net Project] said in a statement. “This approach is wrongheaded, and unlawful, and is a frightening path to criminalization.Housing in Brief: NYC Mayor Increases Policing of Homelessness on the Subway
Next City
"Advocates for people experiencing homelessness quickly denounced the plan, pointing out that the subway is used as respite from the cold and an alternative to dangerous shelters. “Forcing people off the trains into the freezing cold does not help the homeless,” an advocate from the Safety Net Project tweeted."Brutality Against Homeless New Yorkers in the Name of Law & Order
The Indypendent
"We also speak with speak with Peter Malvan, who spent 32 years living as a homeless New Yorker. During that time, he lived in the subway systems, in shelters and in parks. And from 1991 to 2011, he worked jobs. Peter has now been housed for the past year and a half. He is the Vice President of Midnight Run and a homeless advocate with the Safety Net Project."Mayor’s Budget Plan Cuts $615M from Homeless Services, as Subway Crackdown Intensifies
City Limits
“Forcing people off the trains into the freezing cold does not help the homeless,” said Peter Malvan, an organizer with the group Safety Net Project. “Policing does not get people safely housed.”New York City will begin removing homeless people from subways at night
Guardian
“Forcing people off the trains into the freezing cold does not help the homeless. Policing does not get people safely housed,” said Peter Malvan, a homeless advocate with the Urban Justice Center’s Safety Net Project, in a statement. “This approach is wrongheaded, unlawful and is a frightening path to criminalization.”Adams, Hochul roll out subway safety plan to crack down on homeless people on trains and in stations
Gothamist
“Forcing people off the trains into the freezing cold does not help the homeless. Policing does not get people safely housed. The MTA rules the Mayor plans to rely on are unlawful and discriminate against homeless New Yorkers - that’s why we sued the MTA.”Families Get Rejected from Homeless Shelter Without Required Review, Comptroller Audit Finds
The City
“Families should be believed when they say they are homeless and show up at the city’s doorstep for help, and not have to go through an investigation to prove they need help,” said Craig Hughes, a senior social worker at the Urban Justice Center’s Safety Net Project.Crews Stall Trains Over Shopping Cart Worries as New Rule Goes Unheeded
The City
"The Safety Net Project of the Urban Justice Center last year sued New York City Transit, charging that the pandemic-era rules are "arbitrary and capricious" and provide cover for the homeless to be booted from the subway system.”Three in Four Family Shelter Applications Rejected in 2021, Setting Record
Open City
“The city has made it virtually impossible to get into a family shelter,” said Craig Hughes, a senior social worker at the Urban Justice Center’s Safety Net Project.What Is to Be Done? Experts Discuss Subway Crime, Death, Homelessness
StreetsBlog
“Not only are more units urgently needed, but the Supportive Housing Network of New York recently revealed that an estimated 10 percent of the stock is vacant, according to Craig Hughes, a senior social worker with the Safety Net Project of Urban Justice Center. Those vacancies may be due to what’s called “creaming” — when providers and landlords reject someone on the grounds that the person will be too much of a burden.”Woman Dies After Being Pushed Onto Subway Tracks in Times Square
NY Times
“It’s a horrible tragedy, but that shouldn’t be a pretext for intensifying policing, which is where this will likely go,” said Craig Hughes, a supervising social worker at the Urban Justice Center. “The presence of more police doesn’t necessarily mean more safety, and for many homeless people, it means less safety.”Police to Step Up Patrol of New York Subway, Adams Says
NY Times
But Craig Hughes, a supervising social worker at the Urban Justice Center, said that outreach teams would be hampered by a lack of stable and permanent housing for the homeless population...“It’s to a good degree smoke and mirrors,” Mr. Hughes said. “Provide outreach instead of housing, but frame it as something more, and then flood the trains with cops.”Police to Step Up Patrol of New York Subway, Adams Says
NY Times
But Craig Hughes, a supervising social worker at the Urban Justice Center, said that outreach teams would be hampered by a lack of stable and permanent housing for the homeless population. “It’s to a good degree smoke and mirrors,” Mr. Hughes said. “Provide outreach instead of housing, but frame it as something more, and then flood the trains with cops.”Advocates’ Advice for Eric Adams? Better Coordination Between NYC’s Housing and Homelessness Agencies
City Limits
The Safety Net Project of the Urban Justice Center and #HomelessCantStayHome Campaign issued an even more ambitious demand, encouraging the city to house homeless New Yorkers in affordable units administered by HPD, regardless of the current income thresholds for the apartments.NYC Council Considers Bill to Probe Why Homeless Are Denied Supportive Housing
City Limits
Department of Social Services (DSS) records, obtained through Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests by the advocacy group Safety Net Project, illustrate the charge. Supportive housing is, by definition, designed for people with mental illness, but on dozens of occasions over the first 10 months of 2020, providers cited an applicant’s “lack of insight” into their mental health needs as the reason for rejecting them.NYC Homeless Services Head Steve Banks to Leave Post at End of Year
City Limits
Craig Hughes, a social worker and organizer at the Safety Net Project of the Urban Justice Center, said Banks’ policies and strategies ended up harming many homeless New Yorkers, particularly families and individuals bedding down in public spaces.NYC’s New Housing Voucher Rules Will Drastically Expand Income Eligibility for Renewals
City Limits
“This is basically what we were asking for. It’s a really, really, really big win,” said Sarah Wilson, an organizer with the Urban Justice Center’s Safety Net Project. “You can take a job that pays $20 an hour and not risk losing your housing."Paradox and Possibility: Movement Lawyering During the COVID-19 Housing Crisis
CUNY Law Review
This article examines the practice of movement lawyering through the lens of the author [Marika Dias, Director of the UJC Safety Net Project]'s legal support for tenant organizing in New York City during the COVID-19 pandemic.City’s Effort to Move Homeless Back to Group Shelters Contradicts Earlier Health Dept. Guidance, Documents Show
City Limits
But those earlier draft plans, obtained through a Freedom of Information Law request by advocates from the Urban Justice Center’s Safety Net Project and shared with City Limits, offer a look at the city Health Department’s initial recommendations for the moves, at odds with how the actual transfers have been carried out since.Boost to Skimpy Low-Income Housing Vouchers Leaves Formerly Homeless at Risk of Return to Shelters
The City
Two days before the bill went to a planned May 26 vote committee vote, a fourth version of the measure appeared, without any mention of income qualifications. That gave HRA the power to continue imposing its own income cap. Advocates [including our Safety Net Project] noticed the change in the city’s online bill tracker and immediately pressed Levin to restore the missing line lifting the income limits as well as a time limit on aid, to no avail.Eviction Crisis Will Put NYC’s Right To Counsel To The Test
Law 360
Marika Dias, managing director of the Safety Net Project, a legal assistance program operated by the Urban Justice Center, said that with the pandemic-induced housing emergency and a backlog of 18,000 evictions cases pre-pandemic, the city will have to pour more money into civil legal aid services to be able to deliver on its promise — and follow its own law.After Outcry, NYC Opens Emergency Housing Vouchers to More Homeless New Yorkers
City Limits
“It’s positive the city made this change. It only took community outcry, intervention from the federal government, and the reality of facing a potential lawsuit for discriminating against people with disabilities,” said Craig Hughes, a supervising social worker at the Urban Justice Center’s Safety Net Project.Supreme Court Blocks Enforcement Of NY Anti-Eviction Law
Law 360
Tenants should also keep in mind that eviction is a multistep process that has been drawn out in the pandemic, added Marika Dias, attorney and director of the Safety Net Project at the Urban Justice Center in New York City. "There are still steps that landlords need to take under the law," Dias told Law360. "There's still the fact that courts are not physically reopened or functioning at capacity, and a tremendous number of cases have accrued in the system. So this doesn't mean that landlords are going to be able to evict tenants en masse right away, but it is nonetheless an incredibly harmful decision for New York tenants."State Vows to Distribute Fed Emergency Rental Money
Politics NY
Khadija Hussain, a housing benefits advocate at the Safety Net Project of the Urban Justice Center, echoed this sentiment, emphasizing that, “There needs to be more languages added to the application options online, and the helpline.”He Has Asthma and Cancer. But He Still Was Moved to a Crowded Shelter.
New York Times
The Safety Net Project of the Urban Justice Center, which has been advocating for some of the people being transferred, said that the city told the nonprofit that Mr. Garrett was sent to a group shelter because the system would not hold a hotel bed for more than 48 hours. But Peter Malvan, an advocate with the organization, said that the city was still obligated to honor the exemption Mr. Garrett had received from being sent to a group shelter, and that it had failed to do so.In Manhattan, Daily Sweeps Target Homeless New Yorkers
New York Times
The city has increased its number of cleanups during the pandemic. In 2020, from March 1 to Dec. 12, the city performed 1,077 cleanups, compared with 543 during the same period in 2019, according to figures the city released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from the Safety Net Project of the Urban Justice Center.NYC Locks Out Many Homeless Applicants From New Federal Rent Assistance, Advocates Say
City Limits
“In the exact same scenario with the local rental subsidy, however, DSS is using a standard that someone’s supportive housing application doesn’t impact their ability to live in the community,” added Craig Hushes, a social work supervisor at the Urban Justice Center’s Safety Net Project. “The city’s approach to distributing the EHV vouchers is disability discrimination on its face.”New York Moves Homeless People From Hotels to Shelters as Virus Cases Rise
New York Times
“Cruelty and chaos,” Helen Strom, supervisor of benefits and homeless advocacy at the Safety Net Project of the Urban Justice Center, said on Monday afternoon. “People are being sent to places where they have active domestic violence cases and orders of protection.Housing the homeless in NYC: Rally at The Lucerne to discuss housing plan
Pix11
Watch an interview with Helen Strom, Benefits Unit Supervisor of the Safety Net Project of the Urban Justice Center.Judge pauses transfer of disabled homeless New Yorkers from hotels to shelters
ABC7NY
"With all these options for permanent housing, moving homeless people from hotels to dangerous congregate shelters doesn't make any sense and is cruelty that needs to stop now," said Helen Strom, Supervisor of the Benefits and Homeless Advocacy Unit at the Safety Net Project at the Urban Justice Center.Women speak out against hotel transfer to homeless shelter
NY1
“They were in the process of moving them,” said Helen Strom, a supervisor with the Safety Net Project, a housing rights organization. “People were being loaded onto the bus and we got them to pause the move.”N.Y.C. Halts Plan to Move Homeless People From Hotels After Legal Filing
New York Times
Helen Strom, the supervisor of benefits and homeless advocacy for the Safety Net Project of the Urban Justice Center... said the people at the hotel who were being wrongfully denied accommodation included women with pulmonary disease, chronic asthma and seizure disorders. “They are right now in flagrant violation of the law,” she said. “The mayor is focused on evicting people from Midtown and wealthy neighborhoods, and he cares about that over people’s safety.”Shelter Residents Challenge de Blasio’s Homeless Hotel Clearance Policy in Court
City Limits
A handful of shelter residents and three advocacy organizations, including the Urban Justice Center’s Safety Net Project and the Coalition for the Homeless, filed a motion in Manhattan federal court Thursday as part of an ongoing class action lawsuit compelling the city to meet the needs of disabled shelter residents.Disabled homeless sue Mayor de Blasio for moving them back into NYC shelters
NY Daily News
“These hotel evictions are cruel, dangerous, illegal and racist,” said Helen Strom, a legal advocate at the Urban Justice Center, who is representing several homeless people included in the lawsuit.Thousands Being Sent Back to Homeless Shelters in Return to Pre-Pandemic Status Quo
City Limits
After Ernest contacted advocates from the groups Neighbors Together and the Safety Net Project, a branch of the Urban Justice Center, organizers arrived to halt the move because residents did not receive the 48-hour written notice required by law. Safety Net advocates have made similar visits to shelters elsewhere in the city ahead of abrupt transfers to unknown locations and have distributed Know Your Rights materials to shelter residents.City Starts Kicking Thousands of Homeless People From Hotels Back to Shelters
The City
“The pattern of moves is very clear,” said Helen Strom, a legal advocate with the Safety Net Project, an advocacy group for homeless and low-income New Yorkers. ”The city’s starting with almost exclusively Manhattan hotels, primarily in Midtown, in white and wealthy areas.”NYC Touts Drop in Street Homelessness, But Advocates Say Count Obscures Extent of Crisis
City Limits
Ahead of the HOPE Count, the city stepped up these number of sweeps, according to records obtained by the Safety Net Project, a group that is part of the Urban Justice Center. A DHS spokesperson said city officials “address conditions as they occur.”4 Ways the Next Mayor and City Council Must Do Better on Street and Subway Homelessness
Gotham Gazette
The Safety Net Project at the Urban Justice Center acquired the reasons for the rejections via the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL). The results were appalling, and showed the extent to which the Department of Social Services (DSS) and Department of Homeless Services (DHS) take a hands-off approach to the supportive housing application process. People were rejected because of their mental illness, the very reason supportive housing would likely have been a great fit in the first place.David Rockwell Wants Us to Never Forget Their Faces
CURBED
For the past year, Peter Malvan has been working with Midnight Run, the Urban Justice Center’s Safety Net Project, and other groups to help the city’s unhoused. This has been especially challenging during COVID, with people fearing that the crowded conditions in the shelters would spread infection. “I’m disabled, but I like to keep busy,” he says. “I used to go to offices for in-person meetings. When virtual meetings happened, that got interesting because my phone doesn’t always work. I didn’t get paid, but I worked.”N.Y.C. doubled ‘cleanups’ of homeless encampments last year, despite C.D.C. guidance to let them be.
New York Times
From March 1 to Dec. 12, the city performed 1,077 cleanups, compared with 543 during the same period in 2019. The statistic was released by the city in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by the Urban Justice Center, a nonprofit whose Safety Net Project helps homeless people.MTA sticks to its guns regarding policies restricting homelessness in subways despite lawsuit
AM NY
A lawsuit against the Metropolitan Transportation Authority alleges that rules adopted by the agency to clear stations and trains of homeless men and women are discriminatory, namely by restricting people from remaining in stations for over an hour at a time. Urban Justice Center (Safety Net Project) and Picture the Homeless file the Article 78 petition in New York County Supreme Court on Thursday and the MTA is not backing downAdvocates for Homeless Sue N.Y.C. Subway System Over Covid Rules
New York Times
But the rules exempt so many activities from the one-hour limit — including public speaking, campaigning, leafleting, artistic performances and collecting money for religious or political causes — as to make it “clearly apparent” that their real purpose is to exclude homeless people from the subways, the suit says. The lawsuit was filed by the Urban Justice Center’s Safety Net Project on behalf of Picture the Homeless and a homeless man named Barry Simon.Lawsuit: The MTA Is Using The Pandemic To Exclude Homeless From The Subways
Gothamist
"The rules are not about 'safeguarding public health' and ensuring that essential workers are 'able to maintain social distancing,' but rather are about permanently excluding homeless persons from the subway system," the lawsuit states.The complaint was filed by the Safety Net Project of the Urban Justice Center, Picture the Homeless, and Barry Simon, a disabled homeless shelter resident who has been ejected from subway stations because of the new rules.NYC Transit Authority Accused of Using Covid to Boot Homeless From Subways
Courthouse News
In September, the transit authority made those rules permanent — a move that advocacy groups Picture the Homeless and Urban Justice Center say effectively bans homeless people from the city’s subway system.MTA rules wrongly target homeless who use NYC subways for shelter, advocates say in lawsuit
NY Daily News
The rules were instituted as part of the MTA’s response to the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. In September, the MTA made the rules permanent — effectively banning homeless people from the trains, says the suit in Manhattan Supreme Court by Picture the Homeless, Inc. and Urban Justice Center, advocates for the homeless.New York’s New Eviction Moratorium Protections Are Not Automatic. Here’s What You Need to Do
The City
Marika Dias, director of the Safety Net Project at the Urban Justice Center, said: “It’s obviously going to be helpful to a lot of tenants. But it’s not a real eviction moratorium, which would be a blanket protection… . It requires tenants to take a step to access the protection, which always makes it likely folks will slip through the cracks.”New NYC Eviction Cases Start To Move As State Teases Action
Law 360
But Marika Dias, managing director of the Safety Net Project at the Urban Justice Center, called it "entirely unjust and shameful" that the courts have begun issuing default judgments in these cases. Tenants have run into trouble when they try to answer their petitions by phone, as the courts have instructed them to do, she said.NY renters face pandemic evictions ahead of Christmas, even with moratorium. What to know.
Lo Hud
Both depend on tenants paying thousands of dollars in back rent that they will likely not have and actively taking steps to assert that protection, Marika Dias, managing director of the Safety Net Project at the Urban Justice Center, said.Ti ammali, perdi il lavoro, non paghi più la casa: il dramma homeless travolge gli Usa
«Quella federale è comunque una moratoria limitata, perché non si applica automaticamente a tutti gli inquilini, occorre rispettare determinati criteri per beneficiarne», ci spiega Marika Dias, avvocato di Urban Justice Center, una rete di “cliniche” legali impegnate anche nelle battaglie contro gli sfratti di massa.
NYC Marshals Carry Out First Evictions Since Pandemic Onset
Law 360
"Without a comprehensive eviction moratorium, tenants are now being put out onto the streets, in the middle of a pandemic and heading into the winter," said Marika Dias, attorney and director of the Safety Net Project at the Urban Justice Center in New York City. "This is simply cruel."First Tenant Evicted in NYC since the Pandemic Started. Here’s What It Means
The City
Marika Dias, a tenant attorney and director of the Safety Net Project at the Urban Justice Center, said: “We really have reached a moment where it’s clear that the lack of political action does not just have hypothetical consequences, but it has the very real consequences that people are being put out of their homes in the middle of a pandemic.NYers Are Getting Evicted During the Pandemic. Lawmakers Must Act Now.
City Limits
There are now more than 200,000 families across New York State in eviction court. Since Cuomo opened the door to new eviction cases in June, over 33,000 cases have been filed. With a million-plus New York tenants behind on their rent, this number will continue to rise.‘ - Marika DiasBig Response, Huge Need: NYC’s Welfare System Amid COVID-19
City Limits
"Indeed, for those who strike out online, HRA offers a telephone Infoline... In August the Safety Net Project at the Urban Justice Center reported that in an informal audit of 98 calls to the hotline, 58 percent were dropped. “In addition to dropped calls, we also documented significant issues with language access, uninformed workers, and confusing menus,” the report contended. “Overall, the Infoline was found to be ineffective.”Tapped-Out Tenants Take Charge as Landlords Pursue End Runs Around Eviction Moratorium
The City
Harassment “has really heightened throughout the pandemic since the court system has not been an avenue that has been accessible,” said Marika Dias, tenant attorney and director of the Safety Net Project at the Urban Justice Center.NY Gov. Orders Eviction Default Buffer In Wake Of Atty Pleas
Law 360
"Leaving it up to individual judges to decide behind closed doors when they are considering a landlord's request for a default judgment is... bound to lead to a range of inconsistent results," said Marika Dias, attorney and director of the Safety Net Project at the Urban Justice Center.NYC Tenant Attys Urge State, Courts To Prevent Default Spike
Law 360
"You've lost your case simply by virtue of the fact that you didn't file an answer," said Marika Dias, attorney and director of the Safety Net Project at the Urban Justice Center. "That's not irreversible, but that's not a strong position to be in. You have to show both that your case has merit and that you have an excusable reason for the default."Atty Gaps, Case Backlogs Set Stage As NY Eviction Hold Lifts
Law 360
Outside of New York City, said Safety Net Project of the Urban Justice Center attorney Marika Dias, most tenants do not. The available defenses "are very complicated and are going to be difficult for tenants to argue," she said.Nearly 10K NYC Eviction Notices Filed This Summer, a 74% Drop
City Limits
"And so what the governor’s done is not issue a universal eviction moratorium. It’s not really even a general moratorium,” said Marika Dias, Director of the Urban Justice Center’s Safety Net Project and Steering Committee member of the Right to Counsel NYC Coalition.NY Gov. Expands Eviction Defense Law, Not Moratorium
Law 360
"I think what the governor's press team tells us is what the governor's intentions were," said Marika Dias, attorney and director of the Safety Net Project at the Urban Justice Center in New York City. "Ultimately, it will be up to the courts to decide the scope of the language of the [order] and what it covers."New MTA Rules Are Criticized As ‘Anti-Homeless’
NYC Streets Blog
“The MTA is opportunistically using the pandemic to make long-sought anti-homeless measures permanent, right at a time when the city’s homeless population is most vulnerable,” said Helen Strom from the Safety Net Project at the Urban Justice Center.CDC Eviction Rule Likely To Have Limited Reach In NYC
Law 360
"We are basically telling folks they should not submit a declaration without getting legal advice first," said Marika Dias, attorney and director of the Safety Net Project at the Urban Justice Center in New York City. "For most people, the declaration makes admissions without the moratorium actually offering them much benefit right now."Mixed Reception For Trump CDC’s Eviction Ban
Law 360
Marika Dias, attorney and director of the Safety Net Project at the Urban Justice Center in New York City, noted that evictions in the state typically take longer than four months to resolve, likely pushing pandemic-related disputes past the Dec. 31 threshold.NY Courts Say State Has 1 Month To Act On Eviction Hold
Law 360
"Currently, in New York City alone, there are over 14,000 households with pending eviction warrants who are in imminent danger of displacement," Marika Dias, managing director of the Urban Justice Center's Safety Net Project, said in a Tuesday statement to Law360.NYC welfare benefit hotline is a mess months after benefits offices shut down, advocates claim
NY Daily News
The Urban Justice Center, which is focused on helping people secure public benefits, found that more than 50% of calls to the city Human Resources Administration were dropped and 20% had wait times of more than eight minutes.As New York Hurtles Toward an Eviction Crisis, These Are the Tenants Most at Risk
Curbed NY
Marika Dias, the managing director of the Safety Net Project at the Urban Justice Center, stresses it’s a small but critical change that gives those tenants a last-ditch effort to defend their homes, but it’s still a Band-Aid on a gaping wound. “That’s a much better situation than what we were going to see unfold,” says Dias. “That said, people are not going to suddenly have their job or their health restored come October 1. The situation demands a political solution.”Homeless People Sheltering From the Street Secure City Pledge to Fund Hotel Stays
The City
Meanwhile, the 30 people living in the hotel rooms meet every Tuesday evening with organizers from the Urban Justice Center and other groups to strategize, by consensus, their proposals to DHS.NY Courts Say Eviction Pause Continues, For Now
Law 360
"Cuomo's order gives permission for the courts to maintain a pause on eviction cases moving forward, but he's not requiring them to," said Marika Dias, managing director of the Safety Net Project at the Urban Justice Center. "So we could see a situation where the courts decide that even though they have permission to pause, they don't have to. Cuomo has taken no steps to prevent that."Queens pols press city on Fresh Meadows shelter-hotel as neighbors plan protest
Queens Daily Eagle
The temporary hotel rooms are crucial for preventing the spread of the coronavirus among people experiencing homelessness or transitioning from jails, said Craig Hughes, a social worker supervisor with Safety Net Project of the Urban Justice Center.Can NYC Reopen Its Housing Courts Safely?
Commercial Observer
“There are questions about how to conduct something as complex as a trial, where people need to be able to cross-examine and raise objections of someone giving testimony, when they aren’t in the physical presence of the witness,” said Marika Dias, the managing director of the Safety Net project at the Urban Justice Center.NYC courts could face wave of post-pandemic eviction cases
Daily News
Marika Dias, director of the Safety Net Project at the Urban Justice Center, said it was critical that tenants know that while evictions are slowly starting to be filed, the process for considering the case and obtaining an order to leave an apartment remains on pause.Brooklyn To Resume Some Pre-Pandemic Housing Trials
Law 360
Marika Dias, managing director of the Safety Net Project at the Urban Justice Center, urged the court to reverse course "immediately." "NYC housing court's indication that they intend to move forward with eviction trials is dangerous and shows a complete disregard for the lives of tenants, their families and the community at large," she said. "It is also entirely at odds with the directive from New York state's chief administrative judge, which explicitly suspends all eviction cases statewide until further notice."NY Courts Extend Hold On Evictions In Latest Twist Of Saga
Law 360
"It's a horrible situation for tenants to have that level of uncertainty and this constant chopping and changing," said Marika Dias, managing director of the Safety Net Project at the Urban Justice Center.State of NYC Housing on All of It w/ Alison Stewart
Alison Stewart - NPR
Marika Dias, tenant attorney and director of the Safety Net Project at the Urban Justice Center, explains what tenants should know about the new Tenant Safe Harbor Act, and why many are still pushing for rent during the pandemic to be cancelled altogether.The Effort to Move Every Homeless New Yorker Into a Hotel
Next City
The Homeless Can’t Stay Home campaign launched in March. While its founding organizations, including Human.NYC, VOCAL NY and the Safety Net Project, a division of the Urban Justice Center, push for the city to take on a coordinated effort to move unsheltered people into hotel rooms, the campaign has also raised $128,000 through a GoFundMe, which has allowed them to house about 28 people in hotel rooms.As Moratoriums Start to Lift, Preparing for an Eviction Wave
Shelter Force
“We’re really trying to make sure that tenants have access to information,” says Marika Dias, managing director of the Safety Net Project at the Urban Justice Center. The Urban Justice Center is one of more than 25 tenant advocacy groups that are part of the Right to Counsel Coalition in New York City.When the NYC subway is your home—and you’re evicted every night
Curbed
Anthony Williams, a 67-year-old homeless New Yorker who is now staying in a hotel, had been sleeping on the subway as of a few weeks ago, but he was able to get a hotel room for himself through funds from a GoFundMe campaign organized by the Urban Justice Center.NY Atty Confusion, Concern Around New Virus Eviction Rule
Law 360
"What Cuomo is proposing beginning June 20 is not a moratorium but is prohibiting certain types of cases," Marika Dias, managing director of the Safety Net Project at the Urban Justice Center, told Law360. "What that means in practice is that it's going to shift the onus onto the tenants to make sure they fit into that category."
Cuomo’s New Order Opens the Door to Evictions
City Limits
By SNP's E.D. Marika Dias:By opening the door to all these new eviction cases and evictions, the new executive order will quickly take us back to overcrowded housing courts and families facing homelessness—both of which are guaranteed to endanger individual and public health. Cuomo didn’t extend the moratorium, he ended it, outrageously putting all of us at risk.
New Version of Cuomo’s Evictions Ban Seen as Weaker
City Limits
Marika Dias, managing director of the Urban Justice Center’s Safety Net Project, says there are two key categories of tenants that are not covered under the new eviction moratorium: tenants who were being evicted for anything that doesn’t relate to nonpayment of rent (also known as holdover cases) and tenants unable to show that they have faced a financial impact due to COVID-19.Homeless Booted Out Of Subway Stations During Cold Snap Offered “Warming” Buses By MTA
Gothamist
"At the Atlantic Avenue station Friday night, warming buses were not even an option for homeless people because it's not an end-of-line station, said one staffer with the Urban Justice Center’s Safety Net Project."Homeless people accept shelter offers as subway shuts down. Still, deaths mount.
New York Times
Craig Hughes, a supervising social worker at the Urban Justice Center, said city workers should be offering masks and gloves to everyone they approach and giving blankets to people who do not go to shelters and were now deprived a subway car’s warmth.De Blasio says subway shutdowns will ‘disrupt’ homeless problem
NY Post
“We’ve increasingly spoken with homeless folks who reject safe haven beds because they fear contracting COVID in these shared spaces,” said Craig Hughes of the Urban Justice Center.City’s homeless-hotel plan still has holes, advocates say
Queens Daily Eagle
“While these are certainly steps in the right direction, they are nowhere near what the city could and should be doing right now,” said Craig Hughes, a supervising social worker at the Urban Justice Center Safety Net Project.Hotels as COVID Convalescent Homes: Challenges for Patients, Staff
City Limits
Advocates for the homeless like VOCAL-NY, Human.nyc, and the Safety Net Project of the Urban Justice Center have spoken out about their concerns regarding the need for greater assistance to New Yorkers who are homeless and have been able to access the city’s hotel program.Council bill would house homeless in hotels
The Real Deal
"Moving homeless New Yorkers immediately out of crowded shelters, off the streets, and into single hotel rooms with private bathrooms is the best way to protect the community from contracting and spreading Covid-19, and further overwhelming our hospitals,” Peter Malvan, an advocate with Safety Net Activists at the Urban Justice Center, said in a statement.Some NYC Homeless Practice Social Distancing in Hotels, With Help from Donors
The City
The “Homeless Can’t Stay Home” crowdfunding campaign has raised $46,000 and has placed 25 people in hotel rooms, according to Helen Strom of the Safety Net Project at the Urban Justice Center, one of the groups behind the campaign.‘We need to fix it quickly.’ Asymptomatic coronavirus cases at Boston homeless shelter raise red flag
Erie News Now
Kiana Davis, a policy analyst at the Urban Justice Center's Safety Net Project, says that while the New York is making an effort to do temperature checks, it is not happening consistently at every shelter.NYC will move more homeless New Yorkers to empty hotel rooms to curb COVID-19 spread
6 Sq Ft
Advocacy groups first called on de Blasio to use the city’s 30,000 vacant hotel rooms to house homeless New Yorkers three weeks ago. A coalition of organizations, including Vocal New York, Neighbors Together, and Urban Justice Center, are behind the “Homeless Can’t Stay Home” campaign.Advocates urge de Blasio, Cuomo to put homeless in unused hotels
The Telegraph
Advocates and elected officials, including New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, are urging Mayor de Blasio and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to house up to 30,000 homeless individuals in unused hotel rooms to help them engage in social distancing and limit the spread of COVID-19.Advocates urge NYC to house homeless in hotels during COVID pandemic
Advocates and elected officials urged Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo to house homeless New Yorkers in vacant hotel rooms during a press call on Tuesday as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to ravage New York City.
The Homeless Can’t Shelter-in-Place: Advocates Call for NYC To Put Empty Hotel Rooms to Use
The Indypendent
The Urban Justice Center’s Safety Net Project reports that NYPD is continuing to regularly clear homeless camps — a routine practice that advocates say explicitly disregards recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and PreventionNew York City Has Done Almost Nothing to Protect 70,000 People in its Homeless Shelters From Coronavirus Spread
The Intercept
Johanna Garcia is doing her best to keep her family and others safe during the coronavirus pandemic. She washes her hands a lot; she cleans constantly; she goes on social distance walks with her kids, 10-month-old Logan and 4-year-old Abigail. But there’s only so much she can do while living at one of New York City’s approximately 450 homeless shelters.CAST ADRIFT BY THE VIRUS, THE NEWLY HOMELESS SEEK A PLACE TO RECOVER
The City
For four days, Luis endured a fever, a headache — and a cough that brought him to his knees. An ER doctor at Long Island’s Northwell Hospital delivered the diagnosis for the otherwise healthy “fitness freak,” a construction worker in his early 30s: COVID-19.New York City Has Done Almost Nothing to Protect 70,000 People in its Homeless Shelters From Coronavirus Spread
Recently, the city has been conducting sweeps, but that’s not much of a solution either. “They move to another block or they’re likely arrested,” said Craig Hughes, a social work supervisor with the Safety Net Project at the Urban Justice Center. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises that “Unless individual housing units are available, do not clear encampments during community spread of Covid-19.”
Housing Not Shelters: Amid Pandemic, Homeless New Yorkers Demand Refuge in Vacant Apartments, Hotels
Tens of thousands of homeless people in New York City shelters and on the streets have been left with no way to safely shelter in place. We hear from people who are homeless, and speak with Kiana Davis, advocate and policy analyst with the Safety Net Project at the Urban Justice Center.
Closing of welfare offices over coronavirus means NYC’s poor will have a hard time getting help, advocates say
NY Daily News
“It’s an essential service,” said Kiana Davis. a policy analyst with the Urban Justice Center. “People should be able to access the centers. Having fewer centers means more overcrowding in the centers that are open.”No Virus Tracking for Homeless People on Streets and Subways
The City
“They’re pushed into drop-in centers that are struggling, but are also a dangerous environment for the spread of this virus,” Craig Hughes of the nonprofit Urban Justice Center told THE CITY.Closing of welfare offices over coronavirus means NYC’s poor will have a hard time getting help, advocates say
“It’s an essential service,” said Kiana Davis. a policy analyst with the Urban Justice Center. “People should be able to access the centers. Having fewer centers means more overcrowding in the centers that are open.”
Advocates Demand Help for Vulnerable Prisoners, Homeless Folks
Gay City News
VOCAL-NY, Communities United for Police Reform, Neighbors Together, human.nyc, Picture the Homeless, and Safety Net Activists at the Urban Justice Center offered specific recommendations in an open letter to Cuomo and de Blasio: Immediately provide services to folks living on the streetOpinion: Youth Homeless Are Falling Through Cracks in COVID-19 Response
City Limits
By all reputable predictions, we are only at an early phase of the COVID-19 crisis. Organizations that run shelters, food pantries, and drop-in centers are already facing a confluence of city neglect, staffing crises and exposure to the virus, and as a consequence are steadily limiting and temporarily shuttering services. Runaway and homeless youth (RHY) and programs tailored to serve them, in short supply prior to COVID-19, are facing an unprecedented emergency.City Doing Hundreds of Homeless ‘Clean-Ups’ Each Year
City Limits
Over the past four years, the de Blasio administration conducted at least 1,700 operations aimed at moving homeless people from locations where they had set up shelter, according to data obtained via the freedom of information act.Here’s Why the Homeless Are Enraged by Bloomberg’s Campaign
The Daily Beast
Maria T. Walles, 49, will never forget the years she spent worrying about where she and her family would sleep on any given night in New York City. Sometimes Walles, her husband, and her 3-year-old daughter stayed in a family shelter. Sometimes they were denied. On those nights, they’d have to leave her toddler daughter with a friend or family member, then split up to go to separate women’s and men’s shelters.A Guide to Your Rights in Homeless Shelters
City Limits
"The Safety Net Project of the Urban Justice Center, the Safety Net Activists, the Center for Urban Pedagogy and design studio 13 milliseconds this week released a pamphlet outlining the rights that homeless individuals and families have in New York City. It covers everything from privacy to diet, voting to disabilities, public benefits to income savings; explains supportive housing and vouchers; talks about how to get a fair hearing and how to seek permanent affordable housing."Press Release: From Shelter to Apartment
From Shelter to Apartment is a guide design to assist homeless New Yorkers navigating the city’s (DHS) shelter system and finding affordable housing, developed in collaboration with the Safety Net Project of the Urban Justice Center, the Safety Net Activists, the Center for Urban Pedagogy, and design studio 13 milliseconds.
Amid Youth Homeless Crisis, NYC Has Ramped up Shelter Capacity
City Limits
“They should immediately provide homeless youth relying on DYCD programs access to local rental subsidies like CityFHEPS, including those young people who only access drop-in sites, as well as priority access to NYCHA and Section 8 vouchers,” says Craig Hughes, a social work supervisor at the Urban Justice Center’s Safety Net Project who is writing a doctoral dissertation on the city’s history of youth homelessness."SNAP Snapped: City closes food stamp assistance center
Manhattan Times
On June 28, the HRA stopped offering assistance for SNAP benefits at its St. Nicholas Center. The center served about 90 individuals per day. In recent weeks, the Safety Net Project spearheaded an effort to keep the center from closing. We organized petition letters and rallied community advocate walks.Charge City Making It Tougher to Sign Up for Food Stamps
The Chief Leader
Kiana Davis, a benefits advocate at SNP, discusses the de Blasio administration's use of misleading data to support their closing of an East Harlem snap center. “We think the city has made some misleading statements justifying the closure,” she said during a phone interview. “And we find their statistics highly problematic.”Advocates Call On City To Keep Harlem Food Stamp Office Open
Patch
Kiana Davis, our benefits advocate at SNP, speaks with Patch.com about the closure of Central Harlem's food stamp office and its negative effect on the most vulnerable benefits recipients.Shuffled Among Homeless Shelters, and Not Told Why
NY Times
Read this New York Times article about the Safety Net Activists' recent report on harmful “transfer” practices imposed on people living in NYC’s Department of Homeless Services (DHS) shelters.NYC welfare recipients endure long waits, bad treatment from staff: study
NY Daily News
For New Yorkers who rely on public assistance, the average wait-time at facilities that offer these benefits is three hours. The following article by the Daily News, features quotes and statistics from the Safety Net Project’s report: Bureaucracy of Benefits.Contact
Safety
Net
Project
We welcome your questions and comments
Main Office
40 Rector StreetNew York, NY 10006
Telephone: 646.602.5600
Email: snp@urbanjustice.org
Hours
M-F: 9:00AM-6:00PM
The Safety Net Project does not conduct client intake at our Rector Street Office. For information about our services and walk-in clinics, check out our legal clinic schedules.
