Newark City sues New York for homeless people

The largest city in the state of New Jersey accuses New York of the fact that the city forces the homeless to move to them. Moreover, new homes are often illegal or unsuitable for living. This publication reports NBC News.

On Monday, December 2, the city of Newark, New Jersey filed a federal lawsuit against New York and Mayor Bill de Blasio because of their program to resettle the homeless west across the Hudson River.

What Newark Blames New York

The largest city of New Jersey said that the New York Special One-Time Assistance (SOTA) program, in which participants pay an annual rent in advance, works very poorly. It is alleged that homeless people are forced to move to Newark, where they are forced to live in "illegal and / or unsuitable housing."

A statement filed with the Newark federal court said the apartments that people were relocated to under the SOTA program were not inspected properly.

On the subject: New York spends millions sending homeless people to other states

“The defendants did not provide a system of adequate prosecution of landlords and real estate brokers for illegal and / or unfit for habitation,” the lawsuit says.

In the document, the city asks the court to impose a temporary and then permanent ban on further relocation of the homeless under the SOTA program to Newark.

The reaction of the authorities in New York

The representative of the mayor de Blasio accused Newark of heartless attacks on the homeless.

“In the face of the regional housing crisis, the city of Newark took a page from Trump's practical guide by building a wall to prevent families from seeking housing where they want to live,” the City Hall said in a statement Tuesday, December 3.

Also in the City Hall of New York said that it is "wrong, hypocritical and tantamount to discrimination on the basis of income." “We will continue to fight for families to have the right to seek stable and safe housing,” the mayor's office stressed.

In a separate legal document requesting a preliminary ban, Newark officials said their claims against the New York authorities were related to managing their housing plan, and not to the homeless themselves.

“An offer you cannot refuse”

According to New Jersey residents, this statement is not an indictment against the homeless. “Newark does not blame the victims for the actions of the defendants,” the document says.

Also in court filings, Newark claims that homeless New Yorkers were pressured by “an offer they cannot refuse.”

The note, written by Keniatta Stewart, corporate counsel, and Gray Lipschutz, assistant corporate counsel, included a link to a footnote explaining that the most frequently used phrase was taken from the Godfather 1972 movie classic.

In this film, the main character Vito Corleone told the head of the studio Jack Volz, who refused to cooperate, that he would make him an “offer he cannot refuse”.

Initially, this looks innocent enough, as the viewer can believe that this is a deal that Voltz simply can’t refuse, something so good that Voltz just has to agree, the author notes. However, in several scenes, the viewer learns the truth: the “offer” was not an offer at all, it was a real team.