Norman Siegel goes way back with Eric Adams — now he's out to prove the mayor wrong on homelessness
WNYC News | Mar 27, 2023
Their conversations invariably begin with small talk: Where did you grow up? What high school did you attend? How long did it take you to grow that mustache?
Before finally: Would you consider accepting shelter?
Since August, a group of roughly 25 volunteers, including those who were once homeless, have been applying this delicate approach when speaking to people living on the streets. The volunteers' goal is offer people a way into the city's shelter system by building trust — never through coercion.
Known as the Street Homeless Advocacy project, the effort is the brainchild of civil rights attorney Norman Siegel, a longtime critic of city government but ally of Mayor Eric Adams. The initiative, which is premised on securing consent, began four months before Adams floated a plan to forcibly move people believed to be mentally ill into hospitals.
Read more on Gothamist.com.
Elizabeth Kim
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