Posted on 11/22/2008 2:44:31 PM PST by Alex Murphy
NEW YORK — Twenty-two New York City churches have been ordered by the city to stop providing shelter to the homeless.
With temperatures below freezing Saturday, the churches had to follow a city rule requiring faith-based shelters to be open at least five days a week or not at all.
Arnold Cohen, president of the Partnership for the Homeless, a non-profit organization that serves as a link between city officials and shelters, delivered the news to the churches several weeks ago that they no longer qualify.
As a result hundreds of people now won't have a place to sleep, he said.
The city's emergency shelter network contract requires sites to operate at least five nights a week. The 22 churches have limited resources, since they operate their homeless beds using mostly volunteers.
On Saturday, the city Department of Homeless Services said there is plenty of space at other shelters to accept all those who have been sleeping in the churches. The spaces include four new faith-based sites where the number of beds combined with availability amounts to a greater total number of nights for people to stay, said Homeless Services spokeswoman Heather Janik.
There are now about 250 beds in churches, mosques and synagogues. They're close to drop-in centres where people receive other services, including food, Janik said.
"This city is investing more than ever to make sure people have a place to lay their heads at night," she said, adding the number of faith-based and other types of shelter beds will increase by 50 per cent in the next fiscal year to more than 1,000.
Patrick Markee of the Coalition for the Homeless non-profit advocacy group disputed the city figures showing an increase in beds. He said the city proposes to close down drop-in shelters overnight.
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Interesting. You’d think with all the global warming going on there’d be no problems with homeless people freezing to death.
Typical NYC politics. So would they rather have churches doing this or the City? So the city can get millions in homeless grants from the gubmint. That’s what this all boils down to.
So much for PL- for community mental health centers in 1963. Might have worked had the funding been there and there still would have been housing for hard core mentally ill.
It is tragic all the way around now. They are very very sick, they get abused on the streets, and treatment is difficult because everyone has been so ‘helpful’ with their rights (not) that they are difficult to help with meds.
I find it ironic that the oh so progressive San Fran city can’t do any better with funding and helping the homeless mentally ill...even though they have lots of money ...ha! big on “freedom” , low on charity..typical libs!
Maybe Bloomberg ought to sleep on the sidewalks with the homeless.
Thomas Sowell once mentioned in a book that there are more abandoned housing units in New York City than there are homeless people.
bookmark
Unbelievable. God help us.
Can anyone figure out THE REASON for this?
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Yes they sleep the steps with all of the things you or I would have burned, filty bags, flea infested, smells to bold you over.
Try walking pass these places some are very menacing.
The groups that promotes this are liberals churches who use religion to harrang the working folkes with.
God help those who help themselves.
These liberal churches who are enablers, they are not into teaching one how to fish, these are the feel guilty crowd who think you are crew for trying to get folks to rise to their ability to function.
The same liberal thinking that fought to free the mentally ill from the institutions.
Most are on the streets and are not able to take care of themselves and are off their meds.
Probably because most churches in the US worship money more than they worship God?
The government was trying to pull the same kind of thing on churches that were feeding the homeless. The government was requiring the churches to have commercial-grade kitchens, which most churches couldn’t afford.
Keep your doors closed and let the homeless freeze to death??? I would tell NYC to stick it where the sun dont shine. Christ commands us to help those in need. The Church of Christ must always be ready to help those in need.
Blame the ACLU.
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