Pay Your Fare With This, Homeless People!

The New York City Department of Homeless Services is fond of saying that they give money to the shelters to provide Metrocards for homeless people to get to important appointments.  But far too often, when a homeless person needs a Metrocard (because they have been placed in a shelter far away from their doctor and job and childrens' school and family and friends), they have to submit to a humiliating and arbitrary process. Which one formerly homeless person described as follows:

"In order to get a Metrocard, you have to find a caseworker who's not too busy polishing her nails.
Then you have to beg, plead, scream, get on your knees and lick his or her shoes. Then... you only
get a Metrocard if the caseworker is in a good mood and "approves" of your destination. Not very
humanizing for the clients... and not a very efficient way to get anywhere. "

And sometimes, even for a very important meeting SCHEDULED BY THE SHELTER STAFF, you don't get a Metrocard. The following poorly-photocopied document was given to a homeless family, for them to give to the booth worker at the subway stop in the hopes that they could get on the train for free. This family is facing eviction from their shelter, and had an appointment scheduled to resolve that problem. Yet they were given a flimsy phoney-looking piece of paper instead of a Metrocard. 

This is what happens when it's a matter of city policy to keep the shelter numbers down BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY, and that includes making it so difficult to navigate the system that you constantly run the risk of being found "non-compliant" and subject to having your case closed. At Picture the Homeless we are constantly hearing from shelter residents whose case managers can't find them housing - because there is none - and so are forever making them jump through hoops in the hopes that eventually they'll mess up - miss an appointment or show up without the proper paperwork or get a job (causing their welfare case to close) or not get a job (so they can say "this person is lazy and doesn't want to help themselves").  

Subway workers are under no obligation to accept documentation like this. There are literally hundreds of shelters in New York City, and it's not the MTA staff's job to know the names and authenticity of all of them.  We've heard numerous stories of booth workers who laughed in the faces of the homeless folks who gave it to them. And as everyone who has ever needed help in the subway station knows, there is NEVER a worker on hand when you need them. 

For more information on the work that Picture the Homeless is doing to fix the problems created when you have a massive shelter industry in a city where it's expensive to get around, check out these recent articles.

"Taken For a Ride: Fare is Unfair, Say Homeless," in City Limits

"On a Bus for the Homeless, a Push to Forgive the Fare," in the New York Times

(also - note how it says "should you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me," although there's no phone number. what's the subway worker supposed to do, write a letter?)