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NYC Buys Homeless Tickets Out of Town

By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff

Posted Jul 29, 2009 8:00 AM CDT
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(Newser) – New York City has quietly taken a new approach to combat homelessness—since 2007, the Bloomberg administration has bought more than 550 families one-way tickets out of town. Social workers help the homeless to find relatives who may take them in, and some have been flown as far as France or South Africa. The city spends $500,000 annually on the program, and none of the aided families have returned to shelters, reports the New York Times.

Shelters are an expensive solution for New York, where housing a family can cost $36,000 a year. Some advocates have criticized the program, accusing New York of "passing the problem of homelessness to another city." But victims of homelessness have embraced the opportunity to leave; one man flown back to Puerto Rico said, "I didn’t expect the city to be the way it is. I was expecting something different, something better."

A homeless family in Brooklyn wait for replacement housing after the shelter they were living in was evacuated.
A homeless family in Brooklyn wait for replacement housing after the shelter they were living in was evacuated.   (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
A homeless person sits under blankets at a Wall Street subway station Wednesday, May 20, 2009 in New York.
A homeless person sits under blankets at a Wall Street subway station Wednesday, May 20, 2009 in New York.   (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
India Phillips, 20, holds her son Isaiah Phillips, 1, who has special health needs, at a shelter in New York, Monday Oct. 27 , 2008.
India Phillips, 20, holds her son Isaiah Phillips, 1, who has special health needs, at a shelter in New York, Monday Oct. 27 , 2008.   (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 12 comments
aces08
Sep 8, 2009 9:46 AM CDT
Though to be fair in south park they just pushed them into another town to be homeless while in this situation they find their family members and actually get them a home. CHANGE, DO YOU HAVE SOME CHANGE. sorry i had to :)
aces08
Sep 8, 2009 9:44 AM CDT
Seems like a patch to the problem and not a fix. Sure your helping the homeless but the reasons why the homeless are well homeless are still alive and well and that is what should be dealt with.
zaphod
Jul 29, 2009 10:02 AM CDT
i once interned at a mental hospital where there was a constantly scamming sociopath. he also was given "flight therapy".
US

 
New York City • New York • Michael Bloomberg • homeless • ticket • homeless shelter

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