Today I spent an hour trying to help a woman sleeping on my stoop get a safe haven bed (aka a room she doesn’t have to share w/ 30 people). After a long process we were told nothing is available. There are no safe options for people living on the street to come inside. While I was talking to this woman two different ambulances were called on her. This means two separate strangers went by, & instead of talking to her like a human being, they called a very expensive medical emergency service to come deal with her. Do not call 311 on homeless ppl.

Tomorrow in NYC, the city is planning to attack and dismantle the tents of the folks calling themselves Tompkins Homeless Collective, for maybe the 7th time? THC demand apartments, and they know the city owns thousands of vacant units. But they don’t get homes, they get cops. 1/ First off: help is needed, vitally, to show up tmrrw in person & document this planned attack on unhoused New Yorkers. Wednesday am, 9th St & Ave B, starting 7am until? Second: Im going to lay out why it’s so important that we support the bravery of Tompkins Homeless Collective.

To give a sense of how harmful NYC Dept of Homeless Services is, I’m gonna list the pretty stunningly messed up situations that my friends who are homeless right now are dealing with. There are 80K homeless people in NYC, I know like 20 of them. These stories are not exceptional. First I’ll lay out some basics of how this harm is accomplished. At the top of it all is Mayor de Blasio. If he decides that 10,000 mostly unvaccinated people are being moved into congregated barracks in a pandemic, even though FEMA will cover all hotel rooms til Dec, it happens.

I’m gonna tell 4 stories of things that happened yesterday to people I know in the NYC shelter system to dispel once and for all the myth that Dept of Homeless Services has resources to help people with their physical & mental health or with their housing. Here we go. Let’s start with Josie. (Im using pseudonyms as DHS is known to retaliate harshly.) Josie said she had struggled with addiction for years but once she moved to the hotel she was able to get sober. Nobody helped her: she found a nearby methadone clinic & took it one day at a time.

Holy crap my homeless activist friends are the bravest people I know. Mayor de Blasio is notoriously hard to access & my friend Mike just pulled off an elegant public confrontation. Last summer Mike helped organize his shelter to stop everyone being moved. They keep on fighting! Mike (@lovingpawsmike) and his fellow activists from his shelter found out the mayor would be at an event hosted by the NYC Office for People with Disabilities. They staked him out and called out the irony that he is forcing disabled people into dangerous congregated shelters.

I was at a midtown hotel yesterday as homeless New Yorkers were forced out. I’m going to share what I witnessed because the level of disregard Dept of Homeless Services showed for people’s health & well being was shocking & I think it’s a window into the damage they do regularly. I’ll start by saying that I’m friends with people who’ve lived in DHS shelters so I’m already aware of the terrible conditions: sleeping 30 ppl to a room, broken toilets, rotten food, people having mental breakdowns while you try to sleep. I was still not prepared for what I saw.

Mayor de Blasio is forcing homeless New Yorkers back to congregated shelters Monday. He says ppl need the services shelters provide & he is lying. There are no services. This is a shelter on Ward’s island. NYC pays $3500 - $4000 per person a month to sleep in a room with 30 ppl. The idea that shelters are a safe place for homeless people is a myth perpetuated by non profits that run & benefit from them. They can get away with this because only staff & residents can go in them. These photos are from a brave resident who is a member of @VOCALNewYork.