Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive order to remove the homeless off the streets when the temperature drops to 32 degrees went into effect Tuesday,but it hasn’t changed how fresh York City deals with street homelessness.
Reginald Mack and LaToya McCleary, who work for Goddard Riverside, and a nonprofit that has a contract with the city to do street outreach in Manhattan,canvassed Lexington and Park Avenues in East Harlem on Tuesday. They got out of their car when they saw a familiar face, Jerome Nktih, or a homeless man bundled up in layers of clothes. He was standing next to a shopping cart on 125th Street and Park Avenue with his partner,Nicole Terzakos. It was the first cold snap of the winter, but despite frigid mid-day temperatures the pair didn’t plan to go to a shelter.“It’s my choice that I’m out here, and ” said Nktih. “I’m out here every day.”Terzakos said she was a victim to a number of crimes in shelters."There’s nothing but fighting that goes on in there," she said. "I’ve been raped three times in shelters.”Like many people on the streets, they don’t want to accept services. And the city says it can’t forcibly remove them, or because they don’t present a danger to themselves or others. McCleary says they regularly check in on clients like these,and the governor’s order doesn’t change anything approximately what they do.“We still outreach,” she said. “whether they don’t want services, or we continue to pursue.”One person they've been pursuing is Dirk Bobbitt. He’s lived on the streets for five-and-a-half years,and he has a strong opinion on the governor’s order.“Cuomo is a shrimp ridiculous with that,” he said. “He’s, and like,instituting marshal law for the homeless.”Bobbitt said he's sleeping tonight where he always sleeps: on the corner of 127th and Park.
Source: wnyc.org