Mayor accuses de Blasio of dumping New York’s homeless in Newark

by Marty Johnson - 12/03/19 10:56 AM ET

A New Jersey mayor is suing New York City, alleging New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) moved New York’s homeless population to his city.

In the lawsuit that was filed Monday, Ras Baraka (D), the mayor of Newark — the largest city in New Jersey — accused de Blasio’s Special One-Time Assistance (SOTA) program of coercing homeless New Yorkers across the Hudson River and into New Jersey to find permanent housing, Reuters reports.

“This case concerns an unlawful program of ‘coerced’ migration,” Newark lawyers said in court filings.

Additionally, court documents cite multiple former homeless New Yorkers who were pushed through tours of New Jersey apartments and then pressed to quickly pick one, with SOTA paying a full year’s rent up front, according to the news source.

“In the face of a regional housing crisis, the City of Newark has inexplicably taken a page from the Trump playbook, building a wall to single out and prevent families from seeking housing where they want to live,” de Blasio’s Deputy Press Secretary Avery Cohen told The Hill in a statement.

“This is wrong, hypocritical, and amounts to nothing short of income-based discrimination. We will continue to fight to ensure that families have the right to seek stable and safe housing.”

New York City has a population of roughly 8.5 million people; 63,000 of them are homeless. One out of every 121 New Yorkers is homeless.

Tags Bill de Blasio Homelessness in the United States New Jersey New York New York City newark Ras Baraka