The city is spending $12 million to expand its anti-eviction programs to provide free legal representation to tenants faced with the prospect of losing their homes, city officials announced Monday. Together, by FY 2017, the two programs will receive over $60 million annually and serve an estimated 32,700 households per year.
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City officials estimate that about a third of the people entering homeless shelters show up their after getting evicted from an apartment.
“If we had an actual legal team”, said long-term shelter resident Cancel about his fellow residents’ ongoing status of not knowing how long they can stay in their building, “this might be easier for us and everybody else”. “It’s time that our investments catch up – and divestment from coal is where we must start”, De Blasio said in a statement.
The city is making more funds available for New Yorkers to fight illegal evictions in Housing Court in an effort to reduce the city’s persistent homelessness.
He argued that “some of the most power impediments to violence are a few of the most human and grassroots dynamics within our reach, the creation of an atmosphere and reality of equality, respect and inclusion”.
She added: “We expect to see other municipal leaders around the world take note of the Mayor’s words today, and join New York in acknowledging the financial and moral imperative to divest from climate chaos”. “There are not enough attorneys to represent all the tenants facing these conditions, there are not enough resources to build enough new affordable units to house these tenants”.
“The cost of living has skyrocketed in this city”, Mayor de Blasio told reporters this afternoon.
“Coming just after news that the divestment movement has engaged institutions collectively worth $2.6 trillion, and the passage of California legislation that will divest the country’s largest pension funds from coal, Mayor de Blasio’s announcement is another big step adding even more momentum to this campaign”, May Boeve, executive director of the environmental nonprofit 350.org, said in a statement.
She pointed out that that will require more work between the city and Albany.
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“They’re facing a huge challenge without having the kind of backup they deserve”.
