NYC NOW - July 18, 2024: Morning Headlines

Episode Date: July 18, 2024

Get up and get informed! Here’s all the local news you need to start your day: New data shows domestic violence survivors in New York City fleeing their abusers are increasingly bouncing between shelters with few options for finding stable homes. WNYC’s Karen Yi has more. Meanwhile, a new report finds nearly two-thirds of low-income New Yorkers are behind on their utility bills. Plus, a new lawsuit alleges the MTA has cut bus service in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan by 10 percent due to Governor Kathy Hochul's pause on congestion pricing.

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Thursday, July 18th. Here's the morning headlines from Michael Hill. A new report shows domestic violence survivors in New York City fleeing their abusers are increasingly bouncing between shelters with few options for finding stable homes. WNIC's Karen Ye has more. The report by the nonprofit New Destiny housing shows between 2018 and 2023, 18% fewer families left domestic violence shelters for permanent housing. Instead, about half ended up in another shelter in the city's system, too often with her children.

44-year-old Michelle Bennett fled her abuser with her young son. Bennett says she spent three years moving between four shelters until she finally found housing. The Adams administration, meanwhile, has pledged to make it easier for survivors to access affordable apartments. Nearly two-thirds of low-income New Yorkers are behind on the utility bills. That's according to a new report from the Robin Hood Foundation and anti-poverty group. Matt Klein is the organization's chief program and impact officer. Klein says hundreds of thousands of people across the city are getting their power cutoff because they can't pay their bills. In the typical year, over 700,000 New Yorkers,

are living in a household where utilities are shut off at least once. And if we look across five years, more than one and a half million New Yorkers experience a shutoff. Klein says it's important. Low-income New Yorkers have helped to keep their homes powered and functioning, especially during the hotter summer months. The report comes as New York faces another heat wave, prompting warnings from ConEd to limit energy usage to avoid power outages. We just came through a heat wave.

wave. A new lawsuit alleges the MTA has cut bus service in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan by 10 percent due to Governor Hockel's pause on congestion pricing. The transit workers' union and public advocate, Monty Williams, filed the lawsuit yesterday. The suit argues the MTA illegally cut service to save money after Hockel halted the program, blowing a hole in the agency's budget. The suit says the transit agency is legally required to give a 30-day notice about any reductions to service and asks a Manhattan judge to block those cuts. A spokesperson for the MTA dismissed the lawsuit as baseless, saying it must be, quote, silly season.

74 and mostly cloudy now, partly sunny today, and still hot 88, Friday, sunny in 87, this weekend, sunshine and upper 80s. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WNYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day, for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. See you this afternoon.