NYC NOW - October 24, 2023: Midday News

Episode Date: October 24, 2023

About 130 migrants are now vacated from a midtown shelter after the FDNY cited the building yesterday for failing to provide an adequate fire alarm system. Meanwhile, New York City will be able to preserve more affordable housing after Governor Hochul has signed a package of bills, including a program that incentivizes landlords to renovate affordable housing. Also, the New York City Council is reviving an independent commission to get the plan to close Rikers Island by 2027 back on track. Lastly, Newark New Jersey is among several cities applauding the results of its guaranteed income program which gives money to families to see how they would spend it. Tonight, Newark will screen a documentary, "It's Basic," about the program. Kevin Callaghan of the Newark Philanthropic Liaison and Anyanwu Carter, a recipient featured in the film, join us to discuss the program.

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Tuesday, October 24th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. About 130 migrants are now vacated from a midtown shelter after the FTNY's site at the building yesterday for failing to provide an adequate fire alarm system. Two dozen men from single men from Senegal, Ukraine and Russia returned last night to the doors locked and the possession still inside.

Dmitri Tiberkin was among them wandering around Penn Station with nowhere to go. This shelter and just go out and don't say anything. A spokesperson for Mayor Adams said they had been working for months with the FDNY to keep the shelter open. The mayor did not say why the shelter was closed before the men could be relocated. New York City will be able to preserve more affordable, Housing after Governor Hockel has signed a package of bills. One renews a program that incentivizes landlords to renovate affordable housing utilizing tax breaks.

The previous version of the program expired last year. The other two laws give the city more flexibility to provide loans and grants for affordable housing, as well as, increase the bonding capacity for the city's housing finance agency. The New York City Council is reviving an independent commission to get the plan to close Rikers Island back on track. New York State judge Jonathan Lipman will chair the commission by law. The last incarcerated person must leave the island by the end of 2027. That's August of 2027, but a growing jail population and delays building burrowed-based jails has put that deadline at risk. Low 60s now and sunny in the city, sunny in 64 for high today. This is WNYC News.

Newark, New Jersey is among several cities applauding the results of his guaranteed income program, giving money to families to see how they would spend it as cost, that is, rent, groceries, transportation, and much more, keep rising much faster than incomes. Tonight, Newark will screen a documentary. It's basic about the difference the program has made for recipients in Newark and other cities. Joining us now, Kevin Callahan, Newark Philanthropic Liaison, and Anjan Wu, Carter, recipient who's featured in the film. Thank you both for joining us. Thank you. Thank you. Anya, will, you earned $43,000 a year. You're married and have two teens at home. You received $250

every two weeks for a couple years. What difference did it make for your family? It helped me and my wife to address the things that we would normally struggle with. And now, since the program is over with, we're back struggling with. And that's, you know, simple things. School supplies, school uniforms, um, the co-pays, whenever, our children had doctor visits, helping my older children, who I'm a grandparent as well, but there were times when we needed to assist with buying pamphers, assist with buying formula. It just truly helped us kind of take some of the stress off of the struggles of day-to-day living when you are struggling with poverty each and every day.

Now, there are plenty of people out there who think that these kind of programs is that when people receive money, they're spending it on luxuries. What do you say about that? Well, I would strongly have to disagree with them. And I'm sure that I can speak for my family as well as the other recipients whom I had the opportunity to meet on several occasions. And trust and believe no lottery tickets were being bought, you know, $250 doesn't go that far. And even if it did, anyone who's living in the conditions that we're currently facing in North New Jersey, you know, we're all just trying to do what any other family is doing. And that's make conditions better for our families.

that's aligning ourselves to somehow create generational wealth out of nothing so that we have something to leave to our children. So, you know, it really bothers me when others who aren't affected by poverty all of a sudden have an opinion on any time someone who is living in poverty is given a way out, is given a break. I mean, I look at the guaranteed income program. It's no different that whenever this country goes into a recession, that our government bills banks out.

Kevin, the money comes from the private sector and the American Rescue Plan Act. You were able to track it because folks got money on debit cards. How many people took part in the pilot and what do the results show? What do they prove? Sure. So we were able to track our participants' spending

based on our debit card system. And what we've seen is what you would imagine you would see if you were formed on this issue and as Mr. Carter just talked about. So excellently, what we've really seen is people are spending a vast majority of their funds on retail stores to buy clothes and housing supplies. They're spending it on groceries. We know that the cost of groceries during the time since this pilot started have skyrocketed. Inflation has become a major issue.

The next biggest areas are transportation. People in Newark in particular and a lot of other places around the country struggle getting to and from work. or having a car to be able to get to work. So transportation costs and then housing and utilities. Those are by far our four biggest categories with a lot of the expenses that Mr. Carter just talked about, just people trying to take care of their families on a day-to-day basis. Kevin, what surprised you, if anything, about it, how recipients use the extra money? You know, I think what's been most interesting that we've seen is the way people really have a mindset shift about halfway through the program.

You know, and I think that particularly for people who receive lump sum payments, because we did have half of our participants receiving lump sum payments of $3,000 twice a year and the other half like Mr. Carter, $250 twice a month. But I think what we started to see is that once people were able to really stabilize their lives, particularly in the first year, they were able to pay off debt, they were able to buy some things they might have needed, they were able to have some doctor's appointments that maybe they put off. we really started to see a mindset shift where number one, like Mr. Carter referenced, the stress started to ease a little bit. And second, they really started to think more broadly. You know, once they've got some of those bills off their back, they started thinking about how they might want to start a business of their own or how they wanted to help a family member. And so, you know, I think it just goes to show you how crippling poverty and living in these conditions can be. And once you just give a person a little bit of space, you know, they're often able to do

some really amazing things. Anian Wu, the guaranteed income payments ended early this year. What's it like managing life again without the $2.50 every two weeks? Just learning to readjust again because, you know, now that those finances are no longer accessible, it's just about pushing through. I mean, I'm no stranger to working two jobs, sometimes even three jobs, just to make ends meet. And it doesn't come down to me misappropriating money or not being able to manage money. I think that me and my wife are both very good at doing that. But it's just a readjustment right now, you know, but I'm very thankful

for the headway, for some of the things that I was able to get out of the way that the guaranteed income program helped me to do. So it's just a readjustment period right now. That's all. It's a real readjustment period. Kevin, what's the future of guaranteed income in Newark and perhaps other places and what's going to happen with these results? What will they be used for? And are there resources to keep it going right now or in the near future? So we are not keeping this going on a city level. This was a two-year pilot and we always were transparent with our participants that this was a two-year pilot. However, we are offering them any off-boarding support or assistance that we can and we're in regular contact with them. In terms of what's happening next, we're not necessarily going to

continuing on a city level. Mayor Brock has always been very transparent that this is an issue that needs to be tackled on a state and national level. And the reason why pilots are happening in Newark is to really inform policy on a statewide and national level and push for these policies, particularly on a national level. And so that's what we're going to be doing. We're going to be working with mayors for guaranteed income. And here in New Jersey, at our screening later today, we're actually going to be releasing a report that is going to call for immediate policy reforms that can take place in New Jersey now that can ease the burden on families. And so we're talking about things like expanding the child tax credit and expanding the earned income tax credit and even considering

some additional guaranteed income policies and other parts of the state that need it. So now it's about advocacy and working with our legislative leaders to make some changes here in New Jersey. Well, we'll certainly keep your breaths and find out where this is going. Thank you very much. Kevin Callahan, Newark's philanthropic liaison and recipient, Anyan Wu Carter. Thank you so much. Thank you. A free discussion and the screening of the documentary on guaranteed income tonight at 7 at NJ. Pack in Newark. 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. We'll be back this evening.