Currently homeless adult families do not have the right to temporary housing assistance. They have to apply and be found eligible to live in a family shelter. However, the Adult Family Intake Center (AFIC) makes it nearly impossible for homeless adult families to be eligible for this temporary placement. They find only 30 percent of families eligible because they set difficult standards such as forcing families who are already in unstable situations to prove their housing history for the past two years. Within this time period, if you have just 3 days of unknown whereabouts, you are found ineligible. They can discredit a third party, for example, the person they call to verify that you were in the place you said you lived, in order to limit applicants' verification and as a result find them ineligible. There are countless families with variations of stories in which AFIC/DHS (the Department of Homeless Services) found them ineligible even though they are legitimately homeless and were kicked out of their temporary placement. Depending on the facility, they have to take all their belongings or have them thrown out, and most if not all facilities will not give them metro cards to go back to AFIC. They could have to choose between going to work and continuing to have nowhere to live or losing their job and having a place to sleep, which perpetuates the cycle of homelessness. 

We want Mayor Bill de Blasio or Joslyn Carter, the Administrator of the Department of Homeless Services (DHS), to make it a right for homeless adult families to live in temporary housing together so that these families are not unjustifiably separated. If homeless families continue to be pushed further into homelessness, especially in a state that’s as “progressive” as New York, how could we ever hope to set the example for other states. 

In addition to signing this petition, any families who have experienced problems with AFIC can share their stories or evidence of mistreatment on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/helphomelessfamilies 

Visit our website for detailed stories from the class action lawsuit filed by homeless families that were wronged by DHS. https://epd255.wixsite.com/helphomelessfamilies