NYC NOW - February 21, 2024: Midday News

Episode Date: February 21, 2024

A Columbia University report finds that 1 in 4 children in New York City live in poverty. Plus, the New York City Council is joining a class-action lawsuit that would force Mayor Eric Adams to implement measures designed to give more low-income New Yorkers access to housing vouchers. Finally, New York City’s public hospitals serve about 50,000 homeless patients each year but after care isn’t always available. But, are medical respite centers a solution? WNYC reporter Caroline Lewis visits a respite center in Harlem.

NYC. Welcome to NYC now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Wednesday, February 21st. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. New report finds a number of New York City residents unable to afford food and housing is up dramatically compared to recent years with one in four children in the city now living. in poverty. Columbia University researchers and the anti-poverty group Robin Hood Foundation found

half a million more New Yorkers lived in poverty in 2022 than the year before that. The number of kids in poverty also grew by more than 10 percent in that time. The uptick follows the expiration on pandemic-era policies aimed at stabilizing poverty rates and comes as child care costs continue to rise. Researchers say black, Latino, and Asian New Yorkers are most affected. Mayor Adams and the New York City Council have been at odds for months over expanding a key rental assistance program. Now it may be up to a judge to settle the dispute. The council is joining a class action lawsuit that would force the mayor to actually implement measures giving more low-income New Yorkers access to housing vouchers. Mayor Adams has vetoed the expansion after the council passed it last year, but then the council overrode his veto.

The mayor says he's blocking the laws. He says the council is overstepping its authority and that the expansion would cause taxpayers too much. 39 with clouds out there, partly sunny and 41 today, freezing tonight in the city, tomorrow's slim chance of afternoon rain, mostly sunny in a high in the mid-40s. It's WNYC. Stay close. There's more after the break. NYC. New York City's public hospitals serve about 50,000 unhoused patients each year, and after their release, they can't always get the aftercare they need in shelters or on the street. As a result, some end up staying in the hospital

much, much longer than needed. One solution is a medical respite. That's a place where patients can continue their recovery and get connected to housing. WNMC's Caroline Lewis recently visited a respite center in Harlem. Music wafts through the hallway as a patient makes his way to the kitchen on crutches. The hallway is lined on either side by small private rooms. Patients are recently discharged from the hospital can stay here for up to three months while caseworkers try to find them more stable housing.

In one of the rooms, 72-year-old Reinaldo Medina is having his vitals checked. Okay. I know we're going to check your blood pressure. And I can use either arm? Yes, sir. Nothing wrong with your arms, right? No. Medina arrived

here in November after spending three months at Elmhurst Hospital in Queens. City Hospital officials say patients who are homeless tend to have longer inpatient stays, preventing them from turning over beds to other patients in need. Medina first went to the hospital for emergency care after a fall, but discovered while he was there that he had undiagnosed diabetes. No, when I was a homeless, I denied myself going to the doctor because I said, hey, I don't have money. How can I pay them? While in the hospital, Medina developed a pressure ulcer, a wound

that can take a long time to heal. Here at the respite, he receives regular wound care, along with physical therapy, transportation to his medical appointments, and three meals a day. Marjorie Mont Pleasure Ellis is a senior director at NYC Health and Hospitals. The city hasn't done a formal study of its respite services yet, but she says it's cost effective. It is extremely expensive program for the level of care 24-7 that we are providing for folks who are discharged. It's It's less expensive than a hospital stay. NYC Health and Hospitals has a five-year contract with this respite center and another one in Harlem for nearly $18 million.

Those are currently the only two medical respits in the city. But New York State recently got approved for new federal funding for respite care through Medicaid, and state health officials are hoping new centers will open as a result. Medical respits are multiplying across the country as health officials try to lower health costs for people who are unhoused. There are now at least 145 nationwide, about three times as many as there were a decade ago. Julia Dobbins is the Director of Medical Respite

at the National Healthcare for the Homeless Council. She's working on an initiative to expand the model, including setting up clear standards, since each respite looks different. There are programs that are in repurposed mission spaces, old convents that have been repurposed, banks, dentist offices, Dobbin says one of the biggest challenges respite's face is finding people permanent housing.

There is a housing crisis in every community in the country, and it takes time. It takes a long time sometimes for people to get into housing. New York hospital officials say that piece of the program is a priority. Studies show that people who are homeless use hospitals at a much higher rate than those who are housed. But even if housing were plentiful, Marjorie Montpleis-Elez says the respite model has some limitations. For people who are undocumented, their housing options are extremely limited. So typically they are being sent back to shelter. NYC Health and Hospitals has referred about 1,100 patients to medical respite since 2020, and about a quarter have found more stable housing. But people who are undocumented are generally not eligible for housing subsidies.

That's about half of the patients who come through this respite, including Reinaldo Medina. He moved to New York from the Philippines in the late 1980s and says his immigration documents were stolen while he was living on the street. Still, Medina says he's grateful for the care he's received here and tears up a bit talking about it. I'm glad, really, that they have this kind of institution helping people like me. Yeah, that's what I can say, ma'am.

As respite care expands, Medicaid won't cover the service for people who don't have a permanent legal immigration status. But the city's public hospital system says it will keep paying for it because it's worth the investment. For WNYC News, I'm Caroline Lewis. Thanks for listening. This is NYC Now from WNYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day,

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