Liberalism Gone Mad

Blue York City liberalism can get so nutty, the laws and rights turn outright fratricidal — such as in a suit from the Legal Aid Society demanding equal tenant rights for the homeless.

As Carl Campanile reported in Monday’s Post, the LAS wants homeless whom the city houses in regular apartments to have full protection under the rent laws — even though they pay no rent.

That’s right: City Hall foots the bill for the homeless it places in “cluster shelter” apartments. But in what has to be a first, the ultra-liberal LAS frets that the taxpayers are being overcharged.

“This is a scheme by landlords to evade the rent laws,” argues the group’s Kathleen Brennan, explaining the society’s case against a Brooklyn landlord, who charges the city at or above market rates to provide units for the homeless.

Some of these people have lived in their buildings for years, she notes, and thus should be treated like other tenants.

Huh? If they’ve lived in their buildings for years, what makes them homeless? And if they are homeless — and don’t pay their own rent — it’s beyond wacky to say they deserve the same rights as tenants who do pay their own way.

What seems to bug the LAS most is that this practice comes at the expense of other New Yorkers hunting for cheap apartments. Which is true — but isn’t City Hall the one doing wrong?

Of course, court rulings require the city to provide shelter for people who say they have nowhere to live. And Team de Blasio has made it ever-easier to assert that legal claim.

But neighborhoods (even liberal ones) view new shelters in their backyards like the plague. Meanwhile, the rent laws wreak havoc with the housing market, leaving the city with far less residential development than it would naturally have.

Upshot: Too many “homeless,” not enough low-cost units, taxpayers paying high bills to shelter those claiming need — and some landlords making a killing. Maybe it’s time liberals curb their enthusiasm.