The de Blasio administration on Monday agreed to pause a program that relocates homeless families to Newark following a lawsuit by the New Jersey city.
The decision came after hours of closed-door negotiations between the two cities over the federal lawsuit from Newark officials last week that accused New York of shipping its most vulnerable residents across the Hudson River — and then dumping them in “uninhabitable conditions.”
“In the spirit of productive conversations and with the goal of moving toward an improved program, we will be temporarily pausing placements in Newark,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio’s press secretary, Freddi Goldstein.
“We will resume discussions on Thursday and if a satisfactory agreement is not met, we will file a formal challenge to the ordinance the next day,” Goldstein said.
A motion for a temporary restraining order filed by Newark was also withdrawn, City Hall said.
A city investigation this week found that homeless New Yorkers who moved to New Jersey under the $89 million Special One-Time Assistance program were left living in squalor alongside vermin, with no heat and at the mercy of exploitative landlords.
An October Post report revealed that 5,074 homeless families have relocated to 373 cities with a full year of taxpayer-covered rent since the program’s August 2017 inception.
Newark has taken in more families than any other city, with 1,198 relocated there as of Aug. 31.
The New Jersey city wants the names and addresses of those who have relocated, arguing it needs the information to make sure the people are living in humane conditions.
City Hall said it agreed to release that information once there is a confidentiality agreement in place.
On NY1 Monday night, de Blasio wasn’t asked about halting the program, but was asked whether it was effective.
“We have certainly seen promising results so far,” Hizzoner said.
De Blasio declined to discuss the lawsuit but said, “I certainly want to have a dialogue with anyone in New Jersey or any place that wants to talk about how we can work together on a regional solution. This is a regional problem.”