New York public shelters have begun charging rent to homeless families who are working, which will remove a vital portion of their income necessary to help keep them off the streets and eventually able to move beyond public housing.  It’s unclear why Mayor Bloomberg decided to suddenly enact this ridiculous policy, part of a state law from 1997, but the plan is clearly ill-conceived and will likely do a terrible disservice to the nearly 2,000 families that will be effected.  In many cases individuals will be asked to pay nearly 50% of their monthly income for the rent, leaving very little for other survival needs or any type of savings, and if they can’t manage to pay, they are forced out of the shelter.

There has got to be a better way for the city to handle whatever financial issue they are attempting to resolve through this plan.  To give you an idea of the challenges facing a homeless family living in a shelter, listen to David and Tish with their daughter Natasha as they are interviewed by Mark from Invisible People:

David, Tish and Natasha from invisiblepeople.tv on Vimeo.

Let’s hope that Bloomberg comes to his senses and revises his plan to demand rent from these already struggling families.  New York should be trying to help the homeless move out of the shelter system and become self-sufficient, instead they are trapping them in a vicious cycle of reliance.   Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.