Council slams Sandy shelter response

Posted February 6, 2013 By Beth Morrissey

City Council members say that the Department Homeless Services’ response to superstorm Sandy was and continues to be inadequate.

During an oversight hearing on Wednesday, councilmembers and advocates raised a litany of concerns about the shelters that housed hurricane evacuees as well as the living conditions of those who are still unable to return home.

Department of Homeless Services commissioner Seth Diamond, left, testifies in the face of aggressive questioning from councilmembers on post-Sandy shelter. Photo: Beth Morrissey

Speaker Christine Quinn said that she was concerned about evacuees who do not have a plan for returning to permanent housing. “I feel like we need a much more committed and aggressive case management,” she said, adding that evacuees do not feel that the city is supporting them. “There is not an impression or belief that there is a system backing them up.”

Department of Homeless Services Commissioner Seth Diamond said that 839 New Yorkers remain remain living in city-sponsored temporary housing following the storm, usually hotels. That does not include those who are being cared for by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

He estimated that DHS caseworkers were working directly with about 80 percent of those 839 individuals, with the remaining 20 percent not responsive.

“They have been contacted by workers,” said Diamond. “Not all have responded.”

However, some evacuees say that this does not accurately characterize their experience. At a press conference held before the hearing, some said that they had been moved to several different hotels in the last few months, and that the city has failed to contact them or provide them with services.

“We hear about people coming to a hotel we’ve been in, looking for us,” said Alaster Williams, a New Yorker displaced by the storm. “It seems like they don’t know where we are.”

Although evacuees may be living in hotels, some say that some basic needs are not being met. Giselle Routhier, a policy analyst with Coalition for the Homeless, contends that many evacuees living in hotels do not have a kitchen and cannot afford to buy prepared meals.

“We’re hungry,” Nateisha Laws, an evacuee from Far Rockaway who has been living in a hotel in midtown Manhattan with her children, said during the hearing. “We don’t have access to affordable food.”

Laws said that city officials have contacted her, but none were able to provide her with assistance. “They don’t have any information,” she testified. “If you can’t tell me where to get food, you can’t case-manage me.”

During the hearing, evacuees said that these problems were just the latest of many difficulties that they have faced since leaving their homes. Some said that the conditions of the evacuation shelters, where they lived in the days immediately following the storm, were deplorable. Advocates echoed these sentiments.

“As the days wore on, the significant risk of congregate shelters, including crime, contagious disease, lack of accommodations for people with disabilities, and the threat such settings pose to the mental health of people who have just experienced a catastrophe — let alone people who were already experiencing mental health needs before the storm – were all manifest,” noted Routhier and Kathryn Kliff and Sarina Master of the Legal Aid Society in joint written testimony submitted to the council.

Diamond said his agency would reassess certain aspects of its response, but also downplayed some of the concerns voiced by those at the hearing.

For example, the commissioner repeatedly testified that “adequate food” was available in the shelters, even after councilmembers said that they received complaints immediately after the storm about evacuees who did not have enough to eat.

While councilmembers commended DHS on certain aspects of their response, many said they were troubled that the agency’s account of its work was incongruous with reports from constituents and advocates. “What we hear is completely opposite to what you’re saying,” said Councilmember Maria del Carmen Arroyo.

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<h1>Council slams Sandy shelter response</h1>City Council members say that the Department Homeless Services’ response to superstorm Sandy was and continues to be inadequate.
During an oversight hearing on Wednesday, councilmembers and advocates raised a litany of concerns about the shelters that housed hurricane evacuees as well as the living conditions of those who are still unable to return home.
<div id="attachment_9719" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-9719" class="size-medium wp-image-9719" title="DHS hearing" src="http://www.thenewyorkworld.com/wp-content/uploads/DHS-hearing1-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="thenewyorkworld.org/wp-content/uploads/DHS-hearing1-300x169.jpg 300w, thenewyorkworld.org/wp-content/uploads/DHS-hearing1-352x198.jpg 352w, thenewyorkworld.org/wp-content/uploads/DHS-hearing1-500x281.jpg 500w, thenewyorkworld.org/wp-content/uploads/DHS-hearing1.jpg 568w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Department of Homeless Services commissioner Seth Diamond, left, testifies in the face of aggressive questioning from councilmembers on post-Sandy shelter. Photo: Beth Morrissey</div>
Speaker Christine Quinn said that she was concerned about evacuees who do not have a plan for returning to permanent housing. “I feel like we need a much more committed and aggressive case management,” she said, adding that evacuees do not feel that the city is supporting them. “There is not an impression or belief that there is a system backing them up.”
Department of Homeless Services Commissioner Seth Diamond said that 839 New Yorkers remain remain living in city-sponsored temporary housing following the storm, usually hotels. That does not include those who are being cared for by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
He estimated that DHS caseworkers were working directly with about 80 percent of those 839 individuals, with the remaining 20 percent not responsive.
“They have been contacted by workers,” said Diamond.  “Not all have responded.”
However, some evacuees say that this does not accurately characterize their experience.  At a press conference held before the hearing, some said that they had been moved to several different hotels in the last few months, and that the city has failed to contact them or provide them with services.
“We hear about people coming to a hotel we’ve been in, looking for us,” said Alaster  Williams, a New Yorker displaced by the storm. “It seems like they don’t know where we are.”
Although evacuees may be living in hotels, some say that some basic needs are not being met. Giselle Routhier, a policy analyst with Coalition for the Homeless, contends that many evacuees living in hotels do not have a kitchen and cannot afford to buy prepared meals.
“We’re hungry,” Nateisha Laws, an evacuee from Far Rockaway who has been living in a hotel in midtown Manhattan with her children, said during the hearing. “We don’t have access to affordable food.”
Laws said that city officials have contacted her, but none were able to provide her with assistance. “They don’t have any information,” she testified. “If you can’t tell me where to get food, you can’t case-manage me.”
During the hearing, evacuees said that these problems were just the latest of many difficulties that they have faced since leaving their homes. Some said that the conditions of the evacuation shelters, where they lived in the days immediately following the storm, were deplorable. Advocates echoed these sentiments.
“As the days wore on, the significant risk of congregate shelters, including crime, contagious disease, lack of accommodations for people with disabilities, and the threat such settings pose to the mental health of people who have just experienced a catastrophe — let alone people who were already experiencing mental health needs before the storm – were all manifest,” noted Routhier and Kathryn Kliff and Sarina Master of the Legal Aid Society in joint written testimony submitted to the council.
Diamond said his agency would reassess certain aspects of its response, but also downplayed some of the concerns voiced by those at the hearing.
For example, the commissioner repeatedly testified that “adequate food” was available in the shelters, even after councilmembers said that they received complaints immediately after the storm about evacuees who did not have enough to eat.
While councilmembers commended DHS on certain aspects of their response, many said they were troubled that the agency’s account of its work was incongruous with reports from constituents and advocates. “What we hear is completely opposite to what you’re saying,” said Councilmember Maria del Carmen Arroyo.

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