Homelessness in NYC

Interview with Former directer of Advocacy and Policy at the Coalition for the Homeless: Patrick Markee

by 28sadiez

On Friday the 26th my group and I interviewed Patrick Markee about what he used to do at the Coalition for the Homeless as a Advocacy and Policy Director. He gave us so much useful information and useful insights and statistics for our project. Patrick went to Harvard University and studied urban planning before moving to New York and working at the coalition for over 20 years. He gave us a full introduction to what he did at the beginning of the interview and an overview of the history of homelessness. He told us that the periods where homelessness was most prominent were the Great Depression as well as the late 1970s and 80s which continue to be a problem today. He said that over the course of a year 130,000 people cycle through the NYC shelter system every year with over one-third of those people being children. He mostly focused and did work with single adults though, going to single adult shelters almost every day at the beginning of his time in the Coalition.

In his opinion he said that the main cause of homelessness is the lack of affordable housing in his words he said that “Musical chairs is the best analogy for homelessness.” He continued this by explaining that there aren’t enough affordable houses just like there aren’t enough chairs. He said that recently there has been so much inflation but not many raises in pay, resulting in more working-class people becoming homeless. We also talked about the process of getting into shelters and how difficult it is to go into the system as well as the bad living conditions. I learned a lot about how people get moved around in shelters as well as how there are worse living conditions than I thought and corruption in shelter systems.

by 28jonahk

During our fieldwork, we went to the Manhattan Church of Christ and met Carl garrison, The minister of homeless outreach. We helped homeless and impoverished individuals find the clothes they wanted from the free store in the basement. After that, we interviewed Carl and a formerly homeless man, Richard Jones. We learned a lot about people’s firsthand experience with the homeless crisis while helping them have the best possible time at the church.

by 28ceciliat

Almost every Saturday, Carl Garrison runs meal distribution and a clothing pantry. In a cafeteria like space, he serves full meals (they served salmon, salad, and rice while we were there), drinks like hot chocolate, coffee, and tea, and also dessert like cinnamon buns, cheesecake, and chocolate cake. Carl has partnered with an organization through the government that provides Carl with everyday basic clothing in many different sizes.

We worked downstairs in the clothing pantry. We helped the people that came through find the most practicle things and their sizes. We looked for shoe sizes and through piles of clothes to find the perfect fit. People would come through and would be looking for specific things and it was our job to find them. Carl and his crew had a shortage of coats though. Emma our honorary group-mate for the day folded all of the kids clothes. There were about 250 clothes she folded in total.

by 28elis

On Friday, Leo, Sadie and I interviewed Patrick Markee, the former Deputy Executive Director for Advocacy. The interview was truly a treasure trove of information, so every single point we covered may not be included in this summary. At first, he gave us a summary of his work and important facts that he includes in his lectures when he visits colleges. He got into his line of work when he and his roommate decided to invite a homeless man they befriended to stay in their dorm. He majored in urban planning at Harvard University, and this led him to be interested in public/affordable housing. He joined Coalition for the Homeless in 1995.

Coalition for the Homeless has done plenty of work with homeless advocacy, shelter law, giving people affordable housing and getting them out of homelessness, and has also brought major lawsuits such as the Callahan Consent Decree. This lawsuit introduced a court decree in which Coalition for the Homeless was the monitor. This decree stated that all shelters must provide a bed and other basic needs to a person requesting shelter by the nighttime. It was a law that changed homelessness in New York City forever.

Of the many things we learned from this interview, a few that stood out is the leading cause of homelessness: affordable housing. Throughout the years, housing has been getting more and more expensive, one’s income stays relatively the same.

by Leonardo Shachtman

On January twenty-sixth my group and I met with Patrick Markee, the former director of advocacy for the Coalition for the Homeless. We had an interview that lasted about one hour, in which we talked about several things. The first of which is what Patrick Markee did as director of advocacy for the Coalition for the Homeless. We learned he would do things like go to many different homeless shelters and see if they were following the regulations set upon them properly. Those regulations were seemingly simple things such as having beds three feet apart, we also learned most homeless shelters don’t follow these regulations.

We talked about several more things such as the disproportionately high rate of black children experiencing homelessness as opposed to white children, the stereotypes against homeless people, and something called hostile architecture. The concept of hostile architecture was interesting to me as it essentially makes things like public benches harder to sleep on for fear that homeless people will sleep on them. Learning about this was interesting to me because it honestly doesn’t seem to make sense, as you would think that New York City would want to help homeless people in whatever way they could. Overall, this interview was both enjoyable and enlightening.

by 28ceciliat

by 28aarong

My fieldwork started by setting tables. After that, I headed downstairs to give out clothing and help people find what they were looking for. Once handing out clothing stopped my group members interviewed Carl Garrison and Richard Jones. From this, I learned many things such as how housing programs give people homes but the homes must be consistently inspected. If the homes do not meet the standards the person in it loses the home. I was also told that young people working to help the homeless and having faith in people can help them have faith in themselves.

From the interviews, I learned a lot about activism in general. I learned that it can really impact people personally and it can impact the system. It can cause a lot of change. I learned that personally helping a person such as going out to hand out clothes or food has a genuinely big impact. Showing you care makes a big difference and it can help raise people’s confidence in themselves leading to self-improvement.

by 28elis

The Manhattan Church of Christ is located on 80th Street, right near Central Park. Although the building is unassuming, the kind community I was greeted by was so much more than I expected. Carl Garrison, one of the ministers at the church, organizes the food bank and clothing pantry. When we arrived, he briefed us on the process of serving people. Some fellow volunteers were quite experienced, and helped us learn the ropes. Sadie and I were assigned to work the drinks area. People would come up asking for a drink, and then we would serve them. They had a wide selection available, includiong coffee, creamers, tea, and hot chocolate. Although at first I was a bit rusty and slow, I eventually got into a rhythm.

This fieldwork opened my eyes to the fact that houseless people are just like everyone else. I partook in multiple conversations with the people who I was serving, and I found them to be as engaging as my friends and family. Before this, I have always believed the myth told by my parents and others that houseless people, especially ones with disabilities, and dangerous and should be avoided. This stereotype is simply untrue. No one was hostile at the food bank, and everyone was talking to eachother. Everyone was very patient, and there was no hostility.

Similar to people with disabilities, houseless people are grouped away and considered as subhuman, crazy, and hostile. This societal stigma around houseless people also makes it harder for homeless people to move into permanent housing and get a stable job, because they are too different. Although relating to disability, I think that this quote from Stella Young clearly represents this issue: “My disability exists not because I use a wheelchair, but because the broader environment isn’t accessible.” Houseless people are not dangerous or different from people with stable housing, people with stable housing and the general population thinks that houseless people are “different”.

by 28sadiez

During this fieldwork we worked to pass out food and clothes to the homeless with a group of other volunteers. We went to the Manhattan Church of Christ on E 80th street and volunteered from 9:00am to 12:00 pm. The Church of Christ offers this service every Saturday led by Carl Garrison. We offered a hot meal, coffee, cake, chips, and cookies to any homeless person that stopped by and we got to talk to many of the people too. They were incredibly kind and grateful and it was an overall amazing experience.

I learned many things related to my topic but one thing that I took away was how I learned a lot about the stereotypes and stigmas of being homeless. So many people are raised to believe that homeless people are violent and to stay away from them because if you give them money they will only spend it on drugs and alcohol. During this fieldwork I learned the difference one bag of chips or one sweater can make. I talked to some of the people and the majority of them were not on the streets due to addiction but were on them due to inflation and rent prices going up. These stereotypes are based on a very small group of people and because of them people rarely stop to help. In my social justice project I want to raise awareness and this fieldwork gave me a lot more knowledge.

by 28elis

Visiting the United Nations was a very enjoyable and educational experience. We visited various important spaces such as the Trusteeship Council, Economic and Social Council, Security Council and the General Assembly. These rooms were very large, and the size and granduire reflected the tremendous desicions that are made in these rooms. It’s quite humbling to sit in the same chair where famous leaders and changemakers sit and make important desicions about our Earth’s future. Throughout the campus, I noticed this same architecture that is shown in the rooms we visited. The massive main building is very humbling, but not in a bad way. When I stepped into the building, I felt aspirational, willing to act as not just my self, but on behalf country represented on a world stage.

In terms of activism, I learned many things about the UN’s goals from our tour guide. Around General Assembly building, there were a few murals or projects that exemplified the core principles of the UN, and its 17 sustainability goals. I also learned that the UN has various peacekeeping forces/initiatives in various other countries, contrary to the critism of the UN as an orginization that is all talk. The guide also explained the structure of the UN, including the current memebers of the security council, it’s permanent members, and how desicions get made in the security council (which meets on request) and General Assembly (which occurs yearly).

In addition to the activism and architechture, the were many exhibits and artworks in the UN, many of which were donated to the orginization by member states. Some of the most notable artworks were the slave trade memorial in the courtyard area, “Good Defeats Evil”, a sculpture constructed out of actual fragments of Soviet and US missilies, which depicts a person on a horse slaying a dragon with a spear. One exhibit I enjoyed was the hallway about militaries, and the amount of money the US and other countries worldwide spend on our militaries compared to the UN’s budget. It also showed the devastating effects of our military such as the nuclear attacks on Japan.

Overall, this trip was a very educational and enriching experience where I was enlightened to an international point of view on life. When visiting the United Nations, you are opening a viewpoint of the entire world. This orginization inspires hope in me and the population of the world to achieve world peace.

by 28sadiez

While visiting the United Nations I learned so much about all the world leaders and how they come together to make decisions about important topics. It was amazing that we could see the inside of the building where so many important figures have been while making choices that affected the whole world. I found the fact that many of the things in the U.N. were donated by different countries like Denmark and Thailand fascinating. Knowing that even though each country has different goals, so many leaders made peace a priority and agreed to make ground rules for human rights and to meet up once a year made me feel protected. At the U.N. many countries also made the climate a priority with the Sustainability goals and I am very glad that people in power are trying to solve that problem. I also learned about the different levels of power in the United Nations and how the original countries to join it, Russia, the U.S., China, the UK, and France have more power on the Security Council and can veto decisions.

The art in the United Nations was also very powerful and beautiful. In the downstairs section, the portraits made out of rugs presented by Iran really stood out to me. It was very interesting how they took everyday materials and turned them into portraits of Secretary generals in U.N, not only honoring them but creating a piece of art. I also thought that the mural made of beads showing all different races and religions together was very beautiful.