Homeless Groups Take to the Streets

A simmering disagreement between homeless advocates and the Giuliani administration moved abruptly from meeting halls and the City Council chamber into the streets last week as the opposing sides neared an explosive showdown.
Over 1,000 demonstrators turned out on Nov. 5 in Union Square Park to challenge Mayor Giuliani’s homeless arrest policies while a large police presence stood by.
Mary Brosnahan, executive director of the Coalition for the Homeless, told the crowd, "We do not want the homeless being forced to sleep on the streets, but that is exactly what will happen if Mayor Giuliani succeeds in denying homeless people emergency shelter."
Giuliani defended his policies last week and said his opponents and the news media had distorted his positions (See the mayor’s column on page 34). He also accused advocates for the homeless and some politicians of seeking "a special immunity for homeless people" that would prevent them from being arrested for committing crimes.
Meanwhile, public opinion polls show that New Yorkers are increasingly critical of the Mayor’s campaign that homeless advocates have called "the criminalization of poverty."
The dispute took a new turn on Dec. 3 when Queens Councilwoman Juanita E. Watkins of Laurelton clashed with Jason A. Turner, the commissioner of the city’s Human Resources Administration at a council meeting. The angry exchange occurred after Turner called the mayor’s opponents, "the ‘poverty industry.’"
Watkins asked Turner what he meant by "the poverty industry." After he replied that the term was self-explanatory, she told the commissioner: "I was not aware that poverty was an industry But when I listen to some of you, I believe that you think poverty is a crime."
In an interview with The Queens Courier at the Union Square demonstration on Nov. 5, Stephen DiBrienza, chairman of the council’s general welfare committee, had this to say about the Queens councilwoman’s comments:
"She’s on to something there. It’s outrageous and insulting to those organizations giving New Yorkers a helping hand. City Hall regards the poor as an ‘enemy.’"
DiBrienza accused the Giuliani administration of labeling such organizations as the Catholic Relief Services as part of "the poverty industry."
Watkins called the commissioner’s remark "an insult. These are non-profit organizations whose workers are paid low wages and very often on a pro bono basis."
She told The Courier that Turner and "colleagues in his department were brought in from Wisconsin and paid high salaries in significant six-figure sums."
The council member said the key problem facing the city’s indigent was the need for affordable housing. "In Far Rockaway, families are doubled and tripled up in apartments. Young single mothers are unable to move out and so we have three and four generations in one apartment. These are the ‘hidden homeless’ of our city."
Watkins said that if Giuliani had been mayor 2,000 years ago, "Jesus would have been put in foster care since his parents were homeless." The Laurelton councilwoman was the second Queens council member to criticize City Hall’s homeless policies. Last week, Councilman Sheldon Leffler clashed with Police Commissioner Howard Safir over the department’s plans to arrest the homeless.
"I don’t see the basis for arresting people for sleeping against a building," shouted Leffler.
One advocacy group, "Woodside on the Move," said it works with from 1,000 to 2,000 people a year.
"We need to pay attention to affordable housing," said Heather Strafer, a spokesperson for the organization. "Our counselors work with underprivileged on such issues as home repairs, rent overcharges, heat, landlord harassment and rent reduction."
"There just isn’t any affordable housing in Woodside," she said.
Strafer said homeless can be found in vest parks including Woodside Memorial Park.