Rachel and Her Children (28 page)

The population of New York City is 7,086,096: U.S. Conference of Mayors, April 1987.

This page
The route taken by a homeless family is described in the New York City Council study, cited above.

New York City’s deterrence policy: See “Koch Limits Using Welfare Hotels—Homeless to Be Sent First to Dormitory Shelters,”
New York Times
, December 17, 1985.

Data on Roberto Clemente shelter: New York City Council and author’s interviews with Robert Hayes.

Kim Hopper, co-author of several of the Community Service Society reports cited in this book, emphasizes an additional reason why families in a barracks shelter are likely to seek placement in a long-term hotel: Only after hotel placement does a family qualify for city help in finding permanent housing.

Families with children forced to sleep overnight at EAUs: See
Part Two
,
Chapter 5
. Both policy and practice seem to have changed since 1986. Robert Hayes reports (1987) that families no longer remain overnight at EAUs.

According to the New York Human Resources Administration, 3,423 homeless families were residing in hotels in autumn 1986. (“Monthly Report,” CIS, November 1986.)

Number of families in particular hotels and average length of stay: “Monthly Report,” CIS, October and November 1986; June 1987. The 16-month length of stay at the Martinique Hotel was recorded in October 1986. On December 31, 1985, there were 444 families in the Prince George Hotel, 389 in the Martinique, 240 in the Holland. The Hotel Carter, where average length of stay was 46 months in June of 1987, now houses very few homeless families.

Over 1,400 children in Martinique Hotel at Christmas 1985:
New York Daily News
, December 24, 1985; interview with Tom Styron, National Coalition for the Homeless, December 20, 1985; “Monthly Report,” CIS, June 1987.

Public housing units in New York City, waiting list, and length of wait: David Dinkins. According to
Newsweek
(January 2, 1984), waiting time for applicants for public housing in Miami is 20 years.

This page
Comparative costs in New York City shelters: New York City Council;
New York Daily News
, August 18, 1986;
New York Times
, March 7, 1986. Kim Hopper and Robert Altman emphasize that the figure provided for nightly rents at the nonprofit shelters do not include provision of social services.

Monthly rents in Martinique Hotel and numbers of persons per room are contained in a “rate chart” prepared by the hotel and obtained by the author from researchers in New York City. The rent for a family of four persons is established in this manner: $53.00 (basic charge), $4.38 (“sales tax”), $2.00 (“city tax”), $2.65 (“new city tax”), $1.08 (“fridge”), for a total of $63.11 nightly. A monthly rental (31 days) would by the rate chart, total $1,956. A family of six in two rooms, again according to the rate chart, pays $97.95 per night; $3,036 for a 31-day month. These rates include hotel taxes. After residence of three months, the taxes cease to apply. Annual rent for a family of four in its first year at the Martinique, therefore, might be broken down as follows: First three months, $1,956 × three months = $5,868. Next nine months, $53 per day (no tax) + $1.08 (refrigerator) × 31 = $1,676 × nine months = $15,084. Total for twelve months, family of four: $20,952. According to the study commissioned by David Dinkins, a year’s rent at the Martinique for a family of four, excluding all taxes (for example, a second or third year of residence), totals $19,716.

Rent receipts I have examined, however, sometimes vary inexplicably from rents established on the chart. In the case of one large family I have met—14 people packed into three rooms—monthly rent is $5,700: $68,400 a year.

Cost of barracks shelters about $200 nightly including administration and social services: The
New York Times
(March 7, 1987) estimated the monthly cost for a family of four at the Roberto Clemente shelter at nearly $6,000 a month. Robert Altman, counsel to the New York City Council, indicates that costs for other congregate shelters
are comparable to those for Clemente. (Telephone interviews, June and July 1987.)

Welfare support to families is known in most states and in federal legislation as AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children). In New York State, it is known as ADC (Aid to Dependent Children).

Restaurant allowance of 71 cents per person per meal: Author’s interviews with Robert Hayes in January 1986. The restaurant allowance granted to a homeless family in New York City was increased in 1987 to compensate for a sharp decrease in food-stamp allocations by the federal government. In the second half of 1986, however, families in New York City shelters saw their food-stamp allocations drastically diminished but were forced to wait for several months before a commensurate increase in the restaurant allowance went into effect. During this period, many families underwent severe and extended periods of hunger. (See notes for
this page
.)

This page
More than half those eligible for WIC in New York City don’t receive it: According to Arthur Young, Health Program Administrator, Department of Health (New York State), 374,000 women and children in New York City are eligible for WIC. Of these, about 204,000 (55 percent) do not receive it. (Telephone interview, August 17, 1987.)

This page
Other statistics on WIC:
Faces of Homelessness
, cited above;
Washington Post
, February 3, 1987. See also notes for
this page
,
this page
.

At the time of my initial visits, families received all benefits except their hotel rental check by mail. Since the spring of 1986, the process has been computerized. All benefits but rent are now obtained at cash-dispensing institutions.

A woman travels three hours twice a month to obtain her rental check: This is a familiar situation. The requirement sustains the myth that hotel residence is temporary. Even those in residence at the Martinique three years must make this time-consuming journey twice a month. Irrationality in the shelter system is heightened by the very high turnover in the city’s welfare staff. The division of the HRA with specific governance of children in life-threatening
situations (“Special Services for Children”) has a 60-percent turnover rate among caseworkers, according to the
New York Daily News
(June 5, 1986).

AFDC rental limits in New York City: provided by HRA employees.

This page
“If the government were to raise these limits by $100 …” Kim Hopper observes, however, that the government could not raise these rental limits for a homeless family without raising limits for all families on welfare.

New York City rent allowances for AFDC families, while insufficient to meet local rents, are very high compared to those in many other sections of the nation. In Indiana, a family—no matter of what size—was granted $100 a month for rent in 1984. In New Mexico, a family of four was granted $66 a month.
(Newsweek
, January 2, 1984.)

This page
Epigraph:
Uprooted Children: The Early Life of Migrant Farm Workers
, by Robert Coles, New York: Harper and Row, 1970.

This page
Historical data on the Martinique Hotel: George B. Corsa Hotel Collection, New-York Historical Society.

“A faded brochure from 1910 …” The year is estimated, as the brochure is undated. According to the
New York Times
(September 27, 1987), the Martinique Hotel was erected in 1900 and enlarged a decade later. “The enlarged Martinique, with a total of 600 rooms, opened on December 21, 1910.”

This page
New York City Council, cited above.

This page
“The City Council tells us that the owners of the building are Bernard and Robert Sillins …” According to Suzanne Daley, who has covered homeless stories for the
New York Times
, the manager of the Martinique, Mr. Tuccelli, has identified himself as one of the hotel’s owners. (Telephone conversation with Suzanne Daley, June 22, 1987.)

This page
Mr. Tuccelli is also consultant to Prince George Hotel:
New York Daily News
, March 20, 1986.

Fifteen occupied floors above the lobby: The Martinique Hotel has a “sixteenth” and “seventeenth” floor above the lobby, but there is no “thirteenth” floor and the top floor is unoccupied.

“Two flights of stairs …” There are, in all, four stairwells in the Martinique Hotel, labeled “North,” “South,” “East,” and “West.” Elevators for use by residents are located at two of these stairwells.

This page
“Two of the men who work here …” Social workers in the Martinique have carefully respected clients’ privacy. Information about residents was obtained directly from those residents and, where possible, was corroborated independently.

This page
Infant mortality statistics:
New York Daily News
, March 18, 1986;
Washington Post
, February 3, 1987;
New York Times
, May 6, 1986; telephone interviews with Children’s Defense Fund, June 1987.

This page
One nurse: At the time of writing, there is an expanded health team in the Martinique.

“The Empire State Building is two blocks away …” The Empire State Building extends from West 33rd to West 34th Street. The Martinique Hotel extends from West 32nd Street to West 33rd Street. The buildings are separated at one point only by 33rd Street.

This page
Interview at Martinique Hotel, December 1985; follow-up interviews, 1986.

This page
“This room is costing $1,600 …” According to the rate chart of the Martinique Hotel, a family of three pays $49.51 per night—or $1,535 for a 31-day month. After three months, if taxes are subtracted, the family pays $42.08 per night—or $1,304 a month.

Gwen’s day-long wait at her welfare center for her hotel check is repeated in stories told by many hotel residents. More knowledgeable residents learn after a time that checks are not prepared until 4:00 p.m. on the day that they are due. Even with this knowledge, many homeless
parents go to their welfare centers early in the day out of fear that last-minute problems may develop.

This page
Waiting list for public housing: David Dinkins, above.

This page
Approximately $150 million, cost for sheltering homeless families in New York City in 1986: The
New York Times
(August 15, 1987) places the figure at $156 million (fiscal year 1986). The New York City Council projects $158 million for 1987.

$72 million spent to house over 3,000 families in welfare hotels, $14 million to Horn partnership, Mayor Koch’s words (“a question of supply and demand”), political contributions by hotel owners: “Who Owns the Welfare Hotels?” by William Bastone,
Village Voice
, April 1, 1986.

This page
Hotels owned by Mr. Horn and his partners, data on Martinique Hotel, Holland Hotel, and Prince George Hotel:
Village Voice
(above) and rate chart of Martinique Hotel.

This page
In regard to political contributions by hotel owners, the
Voice
makes this exception for the Sillins family: “Unlike the Horn partnership, the Sillins group does not make political contributions.”

The
Voice
says this of the manager of the Martinique: “Three residents told the
Voice
that they have seen Tuccelli carrying a gun in the hotel.”

Further discussions of political contributions by realtors and others in New York City:
New York Times
, Editorial, March 30, 1986.

Statements by Mayor Koch as congressman in 1970, number of homeless families sheltered in hotels and cost to city at the time:
Village Voice
(above) and “60 Minutes,” CBS News, February 2, 1986.

Universities pay average of $355 a month: New York City Council member Ruth Messinger, in reference to New York University and Fordham University, cited in
Village Voice
, above.

American Psychiatric Association and Reverend Tom Nees:
New Republic
, March 18, 1985.

This page
Kim Hopper and Jill Hamberg:
The Making of America’s Homeless
, cited above.

This page
Interviews in Martinique Hotel, December 1985; follow-up interviews, 1986.

This page
Everything in Its Path: Destruction of Community in the Buffalo Creek Flood
, by Kai T. Erikson, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1976.

This page
Rent of $1,900 monthly: See notes for
this page
.

This page
“There’s no fire escape outside this window …” There are outside fire escapes at or near two of the stairwells of the Martinique Hotel. Some rooms have direct access to these fire escapes; most do not.

This page
No elevator working: After a certain hour in the evening, residents explain, all but one of the four elevators are turned off. See notes for
this page
.

This page
Wealth and Poverty
, by George Gilder, New York: Basic Books, 1981. Gilder appears aware of the danger that his words may be construed as racist. “The problem,” he says, “is neither race nor matriarchy in any meaningful sense.” He adds, however: “It is familial anarchy among the concentrated poor of the inner city, in which flamboyant and impulsive youths rather than responsible men provide the themes of aspiration. The result is that the male sexual rhythms tend to prevail…. ‘If she wants me,
she’ll
pay,’ one young stud assured me….”

This page
Rules on cohabitation: Interviews with HRA employees, May 1987.

This page
“The father becomes extinct …” The same pattern, according to the U.S. Conference of Mayors (April 1985), may be seen throughout the nation: “In two thirds of cities surveyed, families must break up” in order to be given shelter. Officials from Denver, Nashville, and Portland (Oregon) cite the fact that “AFDC is not available to two-parent families” in those cities.

According to Dr. Larry Brown, of the Harvard School of Public Health, “in over half the states in the nation,” children
“don’t qualify for AFDC, as long as the father’s in the home. In other words, the father’s forced to abandon the family….” (The
Media and Children’s Issues
, Children’s Express, report of a symposium held November 25 and 26, 1985. Transcript available: Children’s Express, 20 Charles Street, New York, NY 10014.)

“About half the states currently deny assistance to children in two-parent families.” (New
York Times
, July 19, 1987.)

Hotel Carter, $12.40 and $16.70 fees for visitors: Interview with resident of Hotel Carter, January 1986. The
Village Voice
(April 1, 1986) states: “A $16.50 fee for each visitor is demanded from welfare tenants [at Carter] while no such pressure is placed on other guests.” The Carter has sharply reduced the number of homeless families in residence in recent years.

This page
The comparison between government support for a child living with her mother on AFDC and government support for a child in foster care requires some explanation. Research by Jacqueline Pitts of the Community Service Society of New York provides a breakdown of three categories of those placed in foster care, and the funds assigned to each, in the period in which this narrative takes place. (1) Children without special problems: $267 monthly for a child through the age of five; $315 monthly for a child six to eleven; $363 monthly for a child twelve or over. (2) Children with “special needs” (a category that includes children taken from their parents for “abuse or neglect”): $584 monthly, not variable by age. (3) “Exceptional” children (e.g., those with severe handicaps, including AIDS): $886 monthly, not variable by age. In addition, foster children in all three categories receive a clothing allowance based on age: $261 yearly through age of five; $365 yearly, six to eleven; $566, twelve through fifteen; $692, sixteen and older. Children under four also receive $40 monthly for diapers.

All foster children receive Medicaid through the agency that places them. Placement agencies sometimes offer certain extras: music lessons, summer camp, etc. No food stamps are allocated for the foster children, since the fees above include room and meals.

It is difficult to say which of the allocations identified with the three categories listed above is the proper one for a comparison to the support provided to a welfare child living with his or her parents. It will become evident that allocations for all three categories are much higher than the funds available to children with their families.

A child of twelve, Angelina’s age (see
Part One
,
Chapter 4
), receives $363 monthly, basic grant, in foster care; plus $566 yearly for clothes; plus Medicaid; plus whatever extras the placement agency may offer. The monthly clothing grant of $47.17 ($566 divided by 12), added to the basic grant of $363, yields a total of $410.17 per month in cash benefits, plus Medicaid, and whatever “extras.”

If a child of Angelina’s age were to be taken from her mother against her mother’s wish—not at a time of homelessness but simply while they lived in substandard conditions—the reason would likely be “abuse or neglect” and she would therefore qualify as a child with “special needs.” In that case, the foster parent would receive $584 monthly plus the $47.17 monthly clothing allocation, for a total of $631.17 monthly, plus Medicaid and “extras.”

What would this child receive if she remained with her mother—not in the Martinique Hotel, but in an ordinary AFDC situation? AFDC benefits do not vary by age. They do vary by numbers of people in a family. The increase in an AFDC grant grows progressively less for each child in a family. Thus, the allocation for a family of four persons, divided by four, yields a much smaller sum per person than the same calculation for a family of two persons. To make the comparison as conservative as possible, Ms. Pitts calculates the AFDC grant to a child in a family of two (e.g., mother and one child)—a calculation which will give the highest possible sum per child. The basic AFDC grant for such a family is $189.50 monthly for “living expenses” and “home energy allowance,” plus $108 monthly for food stamps, plus $227 monthly for rent allowance: a total of $524.50. Divided by two, this yields $262.25 monthly for all food, housing, clothing, other costs; plus Medicaid.

To summarize: A nonhomeless 12-year-old in an AFDC family in New York City at the time this narrative takes place receives $262.25 monthly and Medicaid. If she were in foster care under ordinary placement, she would receive $410.17 monthly and Medicaid. If she were taken from her mother for “abuse or neglect,” she would receive $631.17 monthly and Medicaid.

Although AFDC rent allowances will rise an average of 13 percent (about $35) in 1988, foster care payments will rise a great deal more. A child of Angelina’s age taken from her mother for “abuse or neglect” after 1987 will bring a foster parent $795.17 monthly, including clothes allowance. The government’s provision of much larger sums for foster care is prompted by the difficulty in attracting foster parents.

This page
Family breakup described by Los Angeles attorney:
The Federal Response to the Homeless Crisis
, U.S. Congress, April 1985, cited above. See also “The Feminization of Homelessness: Homeless Families in Boston Shelters,” by Dr. Ellen Bassuk, lecture given in Cambridge, Massachusetts, June 11, 1985.

In November 1985, the Legal Aid Society sued New York City, according to the
New York Times
(November 8, 1985), charging that the city had “routinely placed hundreds of children in foster care because their parents were homeless or living in sub-standard housing.” These are poor people, said Legal Aid, “who can’t afford a decent place to live…. The city is taking their children away.” The suit, according to the
Times
, described homeless parents who were “threatened with the loss of custody” of children when they asked for shelter. In general, it is not New York City policy to separate a family solely on the basis of a lack of housing. For further discussion, see
this page
.

This page
A description of the difficulty of preparing meals under crowded hotel conditions is provided in
Struggling to Survive in a Welfare Hotel
, cited above.

Conditions for meal preparation in the Martinique Hotel have improved somewhat as a consequence of the willingness of the hotel to permit illicit use of broiler ovens, crock pots, and other cooking utensils in addition to hot
plates; but residents place themselves at physical and legal risk by use of such utensils. Cooking in a hotel room in New York City is illegal; food budgets for homeless families in hotels, however, are determined on the assumption that such cooking will take place.

This page
Interviews in Martinique Hotel, December 1985; follow-up interviews, 1986.