One issue I continue to harp on is despite what the internet loves to claim, **there is way more demand for aid than what is available**
>It’s a chain of events that could have been avoided had there been a place for the family to rent for $1,200 a month, something that would have been within reach prior to the pandemic, said Rich Gohl, who works for RUPCO, a nonprofit organization that advocates for housing.
>Gohl was with Krajewski and her family on the day they were evicted from their apartment, and he has been working with them over the past three years to help them find stable housing. But Gohl said the demand for affordable housing far exceeds what’s available. Of the hundreds of individuals he works with, he’s only able to find permanent housing for two or three of them each month.
The homeless shelters are so full for example that they’re even covering some of the motel costs
>Under New York state’s right to shelter law, local organizations are required to provide some form of shelter to homeless people. When the shelters are full, as they increasingly are most days, local governments have been turning to motels, which they pay for the nightly rates of around $100 with a combination of local, state and federal emergency housing dollars. For those who are working but making below a certain threshold, a portion of their income is used to pay for the motel, with government funds covering the rest.
>The costs can quickly add up. The typical monthly bill for the motels in the Hudson Valley area is around $3,000 a month, far exceeding what it would cost to help someone pay for rent on an apartment. Ulster County spent around $4 million housing families in motels in 2023, according to RUPCO.
>But local governments are only able to use emergency housing funds for temporary shelter, like a motel or shelter bed, not for longer-term stable housing. While the federal government does offer housing vouchers to help lower-income families pay for rent, there are lengthy waitlists for those vouchers because the demand exceeds the amount of funding available.
>“Putting people in hotels is the worst conceivable scenario that we have,” Bosch said. “It’s bad for the public purse because we’re paying twice as much money for an outcome that’s a quarter as good as if we could just get them into a rental and help bridge this gap with either a voucher or some supportive housing.”
Cyberhwk on
Tell you what, I moved into one when I first moved to where I current live. Were it not for the shitty bed and the front desk woman going out to her car listening to loud music and smoking weed right outside my window every night, I’d like to have stayed longer. Internet, trash, water, power, TV all included. Ladies come to change your linens, towels and make your bed weekly. Wasn’t a bad deal at all for $1,250 a month.
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One issue I continue to harp on is despite what the internet loves to claim, **there is way more demand for aid than what is available**
>It’s a chain of events that could have been avoided had there been a place for the family to rent for $1,200 a month, something that would have been within reach prior to the pandemic, said Rich Gohl, who works for RUPCO, a nonprofit organization that advocates for housing.
>Gohl was with Krajewski and her family on the day they were evicted from their apartment, and he has been working with them over the past three years to help them find stable housing. But Gohl said the demand for affordable housing far exceeds what’s available. Of the hundreds of individuals he works with, he’s only able to find permanent housing for two or three of them each month.
The homeless shelters are so full for example that they’re even covering some of the motel costs
>Under New York state’s right to shelter law, local organizations are required to provide some form of shelter to homeless people. When the shelters are full, as they increasingly are most days, local governments have been turning to motels, which they pay for the nightly rates of around $100 with a combination of local, state and federal emergency housing dollars. For those who are working but making below a certain threshold, a portion of their income is used to pay for the motel, with government funds covering the rest.
>The costs can quickly add up. The typical monthly bill for the motels in the Hudson Valley area is around $3,000 a month, far exceeding what it would cost to help someone pay for rent on an apartment. Ulster County spent around $4 million housing families in motels in 2023, according to RUPCO.
>But local governments are only able to use emergency housing funds for temporary shelter, like a motel or shelter bed, not for longer-term stable housing. While the federal government does offer housing vouchers to help lower-income families pay for rent, there are lengthy waitlists for those vouchers because the demand exceeds the amount of funding available.
>“Putting people in hotels is the worst conceivable scenario that we have,” Bosch said. “It’s bad for the public purse because we’re paying twice as much money for an outcome that’s a quarter as good as if we could just get them into a rental and help bridge this gap with either a voucher or some supportive housing.”
Tell you what, I moved into one when I first moved to where I current live. Were it not for the shitty bed and the front desk woman going out to her car listening to loud music and smoking weed right outside my window every night, I’d like to have stayed longer. Internet, trash, water, power, TV all included. Ladies come to change your linens, towels and make your bed weekly. Wasn’t a bad deal at all for $1,250 a month.