LUMBERTON — Rowland is among 24 North Carolina municipalities to receive one or more of New York City’s relocated homeless households, according to information from NYC’s Department of Homeless Services.
One local legislator wants to put a stop sign at the state’s border.
Since New York City began its Special One-Time Assistance, or SOTA, program in 2017, the city has sent 44 homeless households to North Carolina. Receiving the most households were Charlotte and Fayetteville, with six each; followed by Raleigh, five, and Greensboro, four. Rowland was the final destination for one homeless household.
That fact was news to Rowland’s town clerk, David Townsend. No one from the governments of North Carolina or New York City told Rowland leaders the household was coming.
“If I could take a selfie right now, my eyes would be wide open,” he said Wednesday. “I am in shock.”
Rowland has a population “that moves,” Townsend said. The only way the town knows someone has moved to Rowland is when the new resident signs up for water and sewer service.
“But, we don’t ask where they’re from or for their background,” Townsend said.
The reaction was a bit stronger in Fayetteville, where Mayor Mitch Colvin, a Democrat, recently called NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio’s homeless relocation scheme “hypocritical.” Colvin recently told the News & Observer that he’s considering his own lawsuit against New York City.
Ras Baraka, the Democratic mayor of Newark, New Jersey, filed suit against New York City, and this week de Blasio agreed to stop sending his homeless population to Newark. The legal action gained national attention.
State Sen. Danny Britt Jr., a Republican from Lumberton, is calling for North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper to file suit against de Blasio over his homeless relocation scheme.
“Social justice warrior Bill de Blasio is ignoring his own travel ban so he can deport the homeless population his failed policies have created,” Britt said. “Gov. Cooper should join his fellow Democrats from elsewhere in the country and file a federal lawsuit against de Blasio’s inhumane homeless relocation scheme.”
In 2016, de Blasio banned New York City from doing business with North Carolina over its controversial bathroom bill.
Apparently, Cooper was unaware of the relocation situation. The governor was asked about it Tuesday during a press “gaggle,” said Ford Porter, Cooper’s spokesman.
Cooper’s response was, “Well, first, I have asked my Department of Health and Human Services to find out what is happening. This is the first I heard about this issue this week, so I want them to get the facts.
“I’m very concerned about it. Obviously, we’re working right now on affordable housing issues right here in North Carolina. I know down in Fayetteville that particularly after hurricane disasters that affordable housing is a critical issue. So, we want to find out what’s happening and then we’ll decide what kind of action we need to take.”
Cooper wasn’t the only North Carolina leader in the dark about the relocation program.
“Reports indicate that NYC didn’t bother informing any of North Carolina’s leaders about the homeless deportation program,” said Pat Ryan, a spokesman for N.C. Senate leader Phil Berger.
Whether or not Cooper will sue de Blasio is an open question.
“You’ll have to ask him. Although Newark, New Jersey’s mayor is a Democrat and filed a similar lawsuit, so it doesn’t seem to be a partisan issue,” Ryan said.
What is an issue is North Carolina taxpayers getting stuck with the bill for supporting the relocated families.
“My understanding is that NYC funds one year of rent for their deported homeless, although I’m not sure how that funding is monitored,” Ryan said.
Once that funding ends, the relocated people become eligible for N.C. taxpayer-funded services that help the less fortunate, including the homeless, he said.
Sending the relocated people back to New York City isn’t an option because there probably isn’t a legal recourse for doing that, he said.
To date, New York City has relocated 5,074 homeless households throughout 28 states, according to NYC’s Department of Homeless Services. Fifty-six percent of those households participating in the voluntary program were sent outside the city and state of New York. Thirty-five percent were found housing inside New York City.
“Any American, including any New Yorker experiencing homelessness, has the right to seek housing where they can afford it and employment where they can find it,” said Arianna Fishman, New York City’s DHS press secretary. “Our city remains committed to using every tool at our disposal to help these families and individuals find stability in the ways that work for them, including through relocation and rehousing programs that date back decades.”
The SOTA program is one tool the city is using to fight a growing homeless problem in New York City and the United States that was exacerbated by changes in the economy and by past choices made in New York City, Albany, and Washington, according to the DHS. From 1994 to 2012, NYC suffered a net loss of about 150,000 rent-stabilized units, or 16% of the total rent-regulated stock. From 2005 to 2015, rents increased by 18.4% whereas incomes increased by only 4.8%
The information from DHS reads in part, “Today, 70% of the people in our shelter system are families, over one-third of whom have an adult who is working, with the vast majority of those headed by a single mother — underscoring the economic factors driving homelessness, like stagnant wages not keeping pace with rising rents as well as a tighter housing market that can contribute to overcrowding and discord. Today’s face of homelessness is a mother with young children — families who cannot afford to make ends meet despite having steady income.”
The average cost of relocating a household inside New York City is $20,500, $17,900 inside New York state but outside New York City, and $15,600 outside the state of New York, according to the New York City DHS.
