Turns out I was right:
Officials were on the defensive Thursday at a City Council hearing over a study that denies services to some people facing homelessness and tracks whether they end up in shelters.
"This study raises profound and serious ethical questions," said Councilwoman Annabel Palma, who chaired the packed hearing held by the general welfare committee.
Council members grilled city officials and researchers over whether people were given a choice to participate.
"You can opt out of the research, but you can't opt into the services," said Howard Rolston, of the research firm Abt Associates, as a murmur went through the crowd.
...
As first revealed by the Daily News, the city-funded study tracks 400 families on the verge of homelessness who are seeking housing assistance from a city program called Homebase.
Half the families get the emergency rental assistance, job training and other services the program offers. The other 200 were selected at random to be in a "control group" that would be denied services for up to two years.
During that time, researchers track both groups by social security number.
A recent Mayor's Management Report dubbed Homebase a "highly successful model" that helped keep 90% of its clients out of shelters.
Department of Homeless Services Commissioner Seth Diamond said the study is necessary to decide if the program is worth its $23 million budget.
"Our current data .. . does not answer the most critical question, which is whether people would have accessed shelter but for the Homebase services," Diamond said.
And in Mayor Bloomberg's New York, the only thing that matters is the data.
This program is horrific.
Seriously.
If there were any justice in the world, Bloomberg would end up broke, just like Mortimer and Randolph Duke.
Or in a car with Charles and Camilla on the way to the theater as the people facing homelessness who have been denied services by Bloomberg got to express their thoughts about that program.
The moral if this story either is : "Dumb bastards, move out of this town as soon as you can...OR
ReplyDeleteEl Duce needs purer air to breathe whenever he's NOT in Bermuda...therefore, stop driving your cars....
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2010/12/09/fdny-set-to-implement-crash-tax/
"The cost of driving in New York City is about to get more costly. That is, if you need medical attention after an accident.
In a time of tight budget times, the city is looking for new ways to recoup costs.
And drivers needing help from the FDNY will be the targets.
Getting hurt in a car accident is painful enough, but if firefighters have to respond, expect more pain — in your wallet.
Starting next summer, the city plans to bill drivers in accidents that require an emergency response."
I just saw Joanna Molloy's column on this FDNY/Bloomberg story. Just outrageous. I bet NYers turn on him on this. But we'll see - so far, nothing seems to stick to the Teflon Moneybags. He still has 55% approval ratings.
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