Hear me now?
Woman, dissed at gym, grills Bill on radio
A 72-year-old homeless woman who Hizzoner blew off at his YMCA gym last month finally got to ask him a question Friday — by calling in to his weekly radio show.
Nathylin Flowers Adesegun, who was rebuffed by Mayor de Blasio while he was trying to get buff, called in to the “Brian Lehrer Show” to ask him to set aside 10% of his affordable housing plan’s units for homeless people like her, up from 5% now.
“Only 5% of that is for homeless people, despite our having the greatest need,” she said. “We need help for the people who need it the most.”
While she finally got to ask her question, the homeless senior citizen didn’t get the answer she was hoping for, nor did she get any expression of sympathy for her plight.
“We just disagree on this as a solution, and I want to be straightforward, and I’ve said this at town hall meetings and all sorts of other settings, people have asked me, and you can keep asking me, it’s a free society, but I’m going to keep giving you the same answer: I disagree that that is the right approach,” de Blasio told her.
The mayor has argued that his affordable housing plan needs to be “everyone,” not just the homeless. He argued Adesegun, who has been sleeping in a homeless shelter for two years, was focused on the wrong solution, boasting that the city had moved 90,000 people out of shelter and into affordable housing over the last five years.
“Ninety thousand. You keep talking about the different percentages, and I respect that, but I’m telling you about facts that have already happened, not theory, not something in the future,” de Blasio said.
He also touted the city’s efforts to stop people from becoming homeless in the first place by preventing evictions — which, like the efforts to move homeless people out of shelter, has not helped Adesegun.
“I believe in a very imperfect situation that these are the right strategies. I’ve heard the suggestions from your organizations, and I just disagree with them,” he said.
In addition to her call, backed by advocates, to set aside more affordable housing for the homeless, Adesegun has supported a bill by Councilman Rafael Salamanca to require developers receiving any city subsidy to set aside 15% of units for the homeless.
De Blasio said he didn’t agree with that either — adding, “I don’t know how many times to say this.”
Although the mayor said the city has moved 90,000 people out of shelters over five years, he did not mention that as they leave, others replace them. As a result, the shelter census has remained flat, with around 62,000 people a night.