Mayor Defends Pay for Homeless to Leave NYC

New York, NY —

Mayor Bloomberg is defending the city's long-standing practice of paying for homeless families to leave New York City to live with relatives. He says it saves city taxpayers "an enormous amount of money." He denies homeless advocates' claims that it shifts the problem to other cities.

BLOOMBERG: I don’t know, when they get to the other places, whether they find jobs. It may be an easier place for them. If we don’t — we either have two choices. We can do this program or pay an enormous amount of money daily to provide housing.

In its analysis of the program today, the New York Times noted that it costs the city about 36,000 a year to house a homeless family in a city shelter. Since 2007, the city has relocated about 550 homeless families to other cities and countries.