Bloomberg Defends One-Way Tickets for Homeless

by Shannon Moriarty · 2009-08-05 19:50:00 UTC
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New York City is getting serious about addressing the needs of its homeless people. Is it by creating new permanent housing? No. Job placement? Try again.

Plane tickets.

But wait - the madness doesn't end there. Today, Mayor Bloomberg defended the one-way ticket program during a press conference, according to the City Room blog, insisting it saves NYC taxpayers "an enormous amount of money."

"I don't know, when they get to the other places, whether they find jobs," Mr. Bloomberg said. "It may be an easier place for them. If we don't - we either have two choices. We can do this program or pay an enormous amount of money daily to provide housing."

The story was originally reported by the NY Times last week (and covered here by Dominic Mapstone). Approximately 550 one-way tickets have been purchased by the city for homeless families, many of whom are native New Yorkers who have fallen on tough times. The program is designed to keep families out of the overtaxed and expensive shelter system.

So where are these people traveling to and by what mode? According to the City Room blog, the most popular destinations are Puerto Rico, Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas. And although the Mayor said today that most travel by bus, the real numbers are quite different: 48 percent travel by airplane; 37 percent by bus; and 15 percent by train.

Mayor Bloomberg needs to step back from financial crisis mode and evaluate this program based on how it helps people in the long run, not how much it saves taxpayers in one budget cycle.

Shannon Moriarty has worked in various homeless shelters and service organizations around the country. She is a graduate student studying housing and urban policy at Tufts University.
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