Mayor Bloomberg, NY, exports homeless to... France

City Aids Homeless With One-Way Tickets Home

By JULIE BOSMAN
Published: July 28, 2009

They are flown to Paris ($6,332), Orlando ($858.40), Johannesburg ($2,550.70), or most frequently, San Juan ($484.20).

They are not executives on business trips or couples on honeymoons. Rather, all are families who have ended up homeless, and all the plane tickets are courtesy of the city of New York (one-way).

The Bloomberg administration, which has struggled with a seemingly intractable problem of homelessness for years, has paid for more than 550 families to leave the city since 2007, as a way of keeping them out of the expensive shelter system, which costs $36,000 a year per family. All it takes is for a relative elsewhere to agree to take the family in.

Many of them are longtime New Yorkers who have come upon hard times, arrive at the shelter’s doorstep and jump at the offer to move at no cost. Others are recent arrivals who are happy to return home after becoming discouraged by the city’s noise, the mazelike subway, the difficult job market or the high cost of housing.

“I didn’t expect the city to be the way it is,” said Hector Correa, who was in a homeless shelter last week and flew home to Puerto Rico on Tuesday. “I was expecting something different, something better.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/29/nyregion/29oneway.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=granville%20bloomberg&st=cse

commented here in France :

http://www.rue89.com/2009/08/07/debarquement-new-york-exporte-ses-sdf-en-normandie

the little city of Granville (Normandie) has just received a family of five. The inhabitants are outraged at Bloomberg, but the family is of course welcome and will be taken care of...

"People feel very concerned. They say : "this is a first batch, but it can start again." You know, Granville is a small town on the open sea and open the world, we will host this family, and we are ready to help. It must be very painful for them." quoted the Mayor...

one of the conditions is of course that there is a relative that want to receive them (law of family reunion). But with the current legislation it means that the family is eligible to the solidarity allowance (RSA) which is 900€/month, completely free healthcare and free scholarship for the kids...

Oh, where will it end?

And what happens to homeless people sent off to some other country (or, worse, Florida)? Do they even have passports?

What if other major cities retaliate... sending people with NYC relatives to NYC?

I guess this is some kind of improvement.

The guy is a COMMUNIST and trying to make political points of the story

1) it's very probable that the family has French roots and are still French citizens with dual citizenship, so they have teh same rights than other French citizens.
2) if it's an American family with American relatives residing in France, they have a legal right of reunion like any other family from North Africa or Africa
3) regarding their background it's very probable that the families with proper help in the beginning will become an asset and not a liability

The problem is not the "outsourcing" but the fact that NY cannot take care of its homeless, specially the ones that have nowhere to go abroad...

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

I wonder what makes it that expensive just for shelter. I assume the shelters for the homeless at that price are still not that comfortable or livable. Is it just that New York City has housing that is so expensive that none but the rich can afford it? In that case, something is really screwed up in our society. Could the city just build new housing for the homeless at that price on the outskirts of town, within commuting distance of work and schools?

what you propose is exactly what different countries in Europe do, including France. In France municipalities are fined by the State if they don't build 20% of their housing park as subsidized housing (low rent). A modern 3 rooms flat of 750 square feet costs roughly $400/month for a family with an income of $1500/month. Roughly $100 is then subsidized to the municipality. Which means that the town receives $500/month in rent for such a flat. Maintenance is on the town, but the family pays its own electricty and water, which means that roughly a 120/month can be added. Such a family pays only a local tax of 150 a year which covers public service TV (20 channels). With free healthcare, it's a good start to improve your situation.

homes in Va, the Carolinas, Puerto Rico, and a handful of other states.

:crazy: