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In 2007 New York City began offering one-way plane tickets to homeless families who could move in with a relative elsewhere, providing the city with a surprisingly cheaper alternative than keeping the families in the shelter system.  Mayor Bloomberg has repeatedly come under fire for questionable tactics to handle the cities continual challenge of homelessness, and while this plan may work out well for many families, the move strikes me as a refusal to address the root causes of homelessness.  According to Arnold S. Cohen, the president and chief executive of the Partnership for the Homeless:

The city is engaged in cosmetics.  What we’re doing is passing the problem of homelessness to another city. We’re taking people from a shelter bed here to the living room couch of another family. Essentially, this family is still homeless.

I admit that the program could present a desirable alternative to the pressures, high cost of living and unemployment rates of New York, but perhaps the city could find better ways to reduce those burdens and challenges without enouraging people simply to leave town.  New York embodies the dreams and pursuits of people worldwide, and being asked to resign yourself from those ambitions must be a heatbreaking decision.  On the other hand, no family or individual should have to remain in poverty on the streets and shelters, and while relocation may not solve all the problems, that second chance could help turn their lives around.  Hopefully, New York and the rest of the country will continue to pursue other programs that provide the resources to move off the streets and live their dreams where they wish.