By Jill Colvin
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — Mayor Michael Bloomberg warned Friday that state cuts to homeless programs could force the city to build 70 new shelters to provide housing for those who would no longer receive rental subsidies.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo's proposed state budget eliminates funding for the city's Work Advantage program, which gives the working homeless rental subsidies so they can move out of shelters and into their own homes.
Homeless Services Commissioner Seth Diamond, who joined the mayor on his weekly radio sit-down with WOR's John Gambling, warned that eliminating the program would have "a devastating impact on our city's shelter families" and would force the city to spend tens of millions of dollars to build dozens of new shelters.
There are currently 15,000 people participating in the program and 3,000 who are qualified to join, whose benefits would be "yanked from their hands," Diamond said.
"This will cause the shelter system to back up. We may have to build 70 new shelters thorough the city," Diamond said, putting the cost to the city at $80 million dollars.
But minutes after touting the benefits of helping the homeless transition into jobs and homes, the mayor slammed a proposal to force developers who receive city subsidies to pay workers a so-called living wage, which many peg at at least $10 an hour — significantly higher than minimum wage.
"When government tries to get involved and force the economics to something that the market won't tolerate, it's the Soviet Union. That didn't work out very well in case you haven't read your history recently," he said.
