News
Here you can read the latest press from all of our Projects, and find out about the tremendous work we’re doing every day.
Each of these stories represents lives changed for the better, and we are so proud of our staff for their dedication to the people they serve.
N.Y.C. Halts Plan to Move Homeless People From Hotels After Legal Filing
New York Times
Helen Strom, the supervisor of benefits and homeless advocacy for the Safety Net Project of the Urban Justice Center... said the people at the hotel who were being wrongfully denied accommodation included women with pulmonary disease, chronic asthma and seizure disorders. “They are right now in flagrant violation of the law,” she said. “The mayor is focused on evicting people from Midtown and wealthy neighborhoods, and he cares about that over people’s safety.”Disabled homeless sue Mayor de Blasio for moving them back into NYC shelters
NY Daily News
“These hotel evictions are cruel, dangerous, illegal and racist,” said Helen Strom, a legal advocate at the Urban Justice Center, who is representing several homeless people included in the lawsuit.Thousands Being Sent Back to Homeless Shelters in Return to Pre-Pandemic Status Quo
City Limits
After Ernest contacted advocates from the groups Neighbors Together and the Safety Net Project, a branch of the Urban Justice Center, organizers arrived to halt the move because residents did not receive the 48-hour written notice required by law. Safety Net advocates have made similar visits to shelters elsewhere in the city ahead of abrupt transfers to unknown locations and have distributed Know Your Rights materials to shelter residents.City Starts Kicking Thousands of Homeless People From Hotels Back to Shelters
The City
“The pattern of moves is very clear,” said Helen Strom, a legal advocate with the Safety Net Project, an advocacy group for homeless and low-income New Yorkers. ”The city’s starting with almost exclusively Manhattan hotels, primarily in Midtown, in white and wealthy areas.”
Mayor de Blasio Announces Beginning of Major Construction Activities for Borough Based Jails Program
NYCGov
Mayor Bill de Blasio today announced the beginning of construction activities on the parking garage and community space alongside a new jail in Kew Gardens. The construction marks the first major activity in the Borough-Based Jails Program, an $8.3 billion effort to construct four new, smaller, and more humane jails in Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens, to replace the jails on Rikers Island.City Council Set To Approve Dramatic Increase For NY City FHEPS Housing Voucher
Harlem World Magazine
The passage of this legislation caps a years-long fight by Win, Neighbors Together, VOCAL-NY, the Urban Justice Center, Picture the Homeless, the United Federation of Teachers, and others in the effort to increase the value of CityFHEPS vouchers and help more homeless families move out of shelters since 2018.
