NYC Gives Homeless Ticket Out of Town

(AP)  New York City is buying one-way plane tickets for homeless families to leave the city.

It's part of a program by Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration to keep the homeless out of the expensive shelter system, which costs $36,000 a year per family. More than 550 families have left the city since 2007. All it takes is for a relative to agree to take them in.

The city employs a travel agency for domestic travel and the Department of Homeless Services handles international travel.

City officials say there are no limits on where a family can be sent and families can reject the offer.

Families have been sent to 24 states and five continents, mostly to Puerto Rico, Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.

City officials say none of the relocated families have returned to city shelters.

[What_the_hell_happened]

Maybe there's something brilliant in this chaos.

[drsuz]

My favorite part was where the young couple from North Carolina came to NYC over the weekend and went straight to the intake center. They left NC because they were in arrears on their apt rent. NYC got some of their relatives to pay the back rent for them and they were then given a Bus ride back to Greensboro, NC and the couple is as happy as can be because the guy could go back to his old job he quit and they can go back to their apt. Or the Michigan couple who decided to go to NYC and were given $400 in gas cards to go back to Michigan. WAY TO GO NEW YORK!!!!

[madlibrariantwo]

That is no solution to the problem. They are just sending them to become a problem in another city. These people have lost jobs. To help them and the economy, the city needs to help them find jobs and a place to stay. Have them help build new shelters and work in them. That is a better solution. some of the ideas others have listed are better solutions.

[Benton09]

Send them to Bloomberg's house, mansion, several mansions, yachts, investment property. Then I bet he would come up with a viable solution to the homeless problem in New York.

[clancy27]

Perhaps instead of talking about how inhumane this is someone from the City of New York has made an effort to find out what happened to these people who where re-rooted and how it worked out...might be interesting. Professionals are supposed to evaluate their actions!

[tomanyt]

LOL..."Bloomberg Administration Buys One-Way Airfares to Alleviate Strain on Shelters"....So there solution is to send homeless people to another state to be homeless.

[mary-miami]

I can't believe that NYC, a place that I know and love, is doing this inhumane thing. The families that are homeless, got that way through no fault of their own. The majority of them were hard working people who got laid-off from their jobs and are job hunting. They are victims of this economic Depression. It would be far better to give them free temporary housing and help them find jobs. They will never forget that they were kicked out of their home town simply because of bad luck. Many families all over the US are one paycheck away from being on the streets. The article says that they are getting sent to Florida? Miami is one of the poorest cities in the nation, if they can't find jobs in NY, they'll never find it in Miami. I hope when New Yorkers vote for their next mayor, they'll make a better choice.

[DennisinSF]

Around and around we go -

Back in the 80's here in San Francisco, several cities tried to send people who were ill and/or dying with HIV disease here on a one way bus ticket.

Unbelievable.
No, actually not, sadly...

[aChangeOfIdeas]

wow, just send them elsewhere, interesting "fix". But given the cost of living in NYC, being homeless there seems to be a permanent situation, who can afford a $2000/month apartment anyway? Flying them off to GA or SC where they can at least rent a mobile home for $150/month (they aren't that nice but they exist and they keep the rain off your head)is at least placing them in a situation where there might be some hope, that is, if they can find employment.

[debinok1]

Typical response, if they don't see them they don't exist, if they don't exist they don't have to deal with them.

State governments are no better than the federal government, sweep the problems under the rug, don't address the problems, just keep the same old policiies in place that don't work.

Time to take BACK our government(State and Federal).
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/are-we-confident-our-government-is-working-for-us