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An Ex-D.J. Has a Housing Voucher. He Still Can’t Find a Home.


A few decades ago, Cornelius Parker was living a spectacular life, traveling the world as a DJ and performing with hip-hop pioneers like DJ Kool Herc. Today, he squatted in his third-floor apartment in Harlem, without electricity, sleeping on the floor.

Mr. Parker, 57, has faced many difficulties. But he also blamed his situation on a New York City program that promised to help him find a stable home until a worker’s error forced him out of the apartment. own and had to live in the car until he found the place he is now. illegal and precarious stay.

“The same system that says ‘Come to us, we’ll stop you being homeless’ – they made me homeless,'” he said.

The severity of the city’s homelessness problem is reflected in the record number of people living in the shelter system. has exceeded 70,000and the number of affordable housing is decreasing.

Parker’s plight, housing advocates say, painfully illustrates a less obvious part of the problem: dysfunction in the systems that keep people from losing their homes in the first place. head.

The end to housing programs during the pandemic, including the eviction moratorium, has left many New Yorkers facing the prospect of losing their homes. That massive influx has strained the city’s network of government agencies and nonprofits helping people stay at home, as agencies simultaneously deal with staffing shortages.

City officials say the incidents Parker has endured do not represent a collective effort, which in many cases has successfully prevented people from getting out of shelters, off the streets or at all. two.

However, some New Yorkers have found themselves in difficult situations. Renters say they face eviction after city’s rent assistance program Can’t make payment. Homeless families have move to a building mired in a legal dispute forcing them out again.

Landlords and brokers often discriminated against against those who try to pay for a home with government subsidies, advocates for fee-based housing, and the city’s lack of a robust monitoring system. Less than a fifth of the nearly 8,000 federal emergency home vouchers recently issued to New York City were used to purchase an apartment, news organization City Limits Report in October.

Mr. Parker’s path to the squat, he said, was spurred on by employees of a city program called Homebase, who, in his view, suggested he move out of the apartment where he lived. he is living so that he can quickly get government help.

The program, run in conjunction with nonprofits, aims to act as a hub where New Yorkers can find services to help them stay in their home or find a new place to live. People with low incomes or those at risk of becoming homeless can visit offices in all five counties to collect ballots, find apartments, and provide job training. People are referred to Homebase through government agencies, politicians, and even from 311 calls, and Homebase reaches out at community events.

City officials say Homebase served more than 25,000 households in its most recent fiscal year, and demand for the program’s services is growing.

However, some New Yorkers who sought help from Homebase reported frustrating issues: Applications can take up to a year to process, staff in charge sometimes cannot be reached. weeks and customers receive conflicting instructions on eligibility requirements, according to Harlem’s Neighborhood Protection Service, a nonprofit public protection firm that represents Parker and others.

Parker’s challenge is a prime example of how those flaws, along with landlords’ refusal to accept vouchers, have exacerbated the city’s homelessness problem, the group said.

Mr. Parker said his predicament began when a friend he was staying with said he wanted to rent out rooms to some relatives. According to court records, the friend said Mr. Parker owed more than $9,000 in rent, which Mr. Parker disputes. At the time, Mr Parker was recovering from surgery to remove the tumor and had been in a car accident that severed a ligament in his leg, leaving him unable to work.

When an eviction lawsuit was filed against him in January 2022, Mr. Parker threw himself into the fray. That winter, he applied for Homebase assistance, and in April he received promising advice from one of the program’s housing experts: If he agreed to the The day he leaves the apartment, he will be helped to find and pay for a new place to live through a city voucher program.

Mr Parker told the court he would leave in July. However, a month later, an Underserved Services specialist said she had made a mistake and Mr. Parker was not eligible for the help she was thinking of. Other programs can take months to access, she said.

Mr. Parker struggled unsuccessfully to find a new place to live for the weeks he had left. The Homebase employee also tried to seek his help. In August, they received Mr. Parker a federal document that could help him pay for a new apartment.

But despite daily online searches, visits to brokers’ offices and several apartment visits, Mr Parker said he was unable to find one. The host usually stops responding after he explains that he is using a coupon that expires next month.

The search was made even more difficult as Mr Parker had difficulty walking without a cane due to a leg injury, further narrowing his options to apartments he could easily get in and out of. He says he’s heard from his Homebase employee only a few times.

City officials said Parker’s situation was an anomaly. They said they were investigating his case, adding that more than 97% of the thousands of people who received services through Homebase in the second half of 2022 avoided entering shelters.

In a statement, a spokesman for Underserved Services, which provides Homebase services in Manhattan, said the team is “employed by a compassionate and dedicated team of human services professionals.” pancreas, who have helped thousands of New Yorkers stave off homelessness since the beginning of the pandemic.”

The spokesman acknowledged there was a “gap in communication” about Mr Parker’s eligibility for the city voucher. But she said the organization “remains committed to helping Mr. Parker find a permanent home,” noting that the organization helped him get federal documents.

During his search, Mr. Parker moved into hotels with his girlfriends until he could no longer afford them. Sometimes the couple slept in his car, showering with a bucket of water in empty parking lots. They eventually moved into the apartment he was staying in when it was vacated by his girlfriend’s sister. The landlord is trying to evict them, court records show.

Around the sleeping bags in the middle of the room where Mr. Parker and his girlfriend slept were boxes and bags, water bottles, shoes, ketchup bottles and more. Since there was no electricity, they chilled the milk on the windowsill outside in the cold winter air. They use flashlights and headlights to see at night.

It was dark in the room even during the day, because the couple had spread out the sheets and covered the windows to prevent people from looking inside.

Mr. Parker has fond memories of his musical days. He lights up with pictures on his cell phone spinning a turntable or posing with members of the Black Spades, a street gang is linked to hip-hop history currently focusing on community development and a special City Council commendation he received in 2017.

But most of his days are stressful. He relies on a monthly disability payment of $822 and try to raise money online. One thing that he thinks will help more than anything is a permanent home.

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