November 5, 2011
For Immediate Release
Senator Reverend Diaz Rejects Mayor Bloomberg’s New Homeless Shelter Policy
New York State Senator Reverend Ruben Diaz has released the following statement in response to a new Bloomberg Administration Homeless Shelter policy:
“Mayor Bloomberg’s legacy will certainly include his inability to deal with the homeless problem and ongoing poverty in New York City. His most recent plan to hire specialists to interview homeless single adults and prove that he or she has no alternative place to live is absurd.
Only a cruel or sick mind would think that anyone who has somewhere else to go to live would prefer to live in a New York City homeless shelter.
I am grateful to City Council Speaker Christine Quinn for calling for emergency hearings and for labeling this policy ‘cruel, risky and unacceptable.’ I am hopeful that her hearings will determine realistic alternatives for the homeless.
Mary Brosnahan, the Executive Director of the Coalition for the Homeless is correct for calling this new policy ‘dangerous and inhumane’.
It disgusts me to think that Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who owns luxury homes in different places in the world, would further reduce the dignity of homeless New Yorkers by forcing them to qualify for basic shelter assistance. Too many homeless New Yorkers already have problems that include drug addiction, mental illness, domestic violence, unemployment and poverty.
The fact that Mayor Bloomberg’s new policy has already been approved by the Cuomo Administration is equally disturbing.”
Senator Diaz, are you serious? Once again flying off the handle, and pigeon holing yourself even more. Helping asses the status of someone might seem encouraging, in fact, serving under the Florida Legislature I saw similar programs lead to job placement, day cares for mothers and a step-forward approach to helping out those in need. Perhaps, if we did understand who needs what, we can set-up programs that help people get ready to have jobs, rather that a rhethorical cycle of simply getting by every day without any process to help elevate and help provide resources and tools for tomorrow.