Res 0891-2015

By Council Members Palma, Gentile, Mendez, Koslowitz, Chin, Lancman, Rose, Williams, Mealy, Rodriguez and Vacca Whereas, According to the Coalition for the Homeless, New York City's homeless population experienced steady growth over the past decade, with now over sixty thousand homeless persons seeking shelter on an average night; and Whereas, Homeless persons are one of the most at risk populations in New York City, often in need of assistance with shelter, transportation, medical services, mental health services, language services and more; and Whereas, According to the Coalition for the Homeless in New York, the majority of single homeless persons living out of the shelter system are known to have some form of mental illness; and Whereas, The New York City Human Rights Law prohibits discrimination in housing based on a lawful source of income; and Whereas, According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, between 1999 and 2013, there were over 1,400 cases of violence against persons experiencing homelessness across the United States, with little basis for these attacks other than a bias against homelessness; and Whereas, In June of 2014, 3 men viciously attacked a homeless man sleeping on the steps of a church in the Bronx, causing brain hemorrhages, with no apparent cause for the attack; and Whereas, In February of 2015, a homeless man was brutally beaten in a Brooklyn park, where he was left for four hours before being taken to the hospital while in a coma, eventually succumbing to his injuries; and Whereas, A.1353/S.0813, introduced respectively by Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal and Senator Neil Breslin, would designate certain offenses against homeless persons as hate crimes, thereby increasing the penalties for such offenses; now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls upon the State Legislature to pass and the Governor to sign into law, A.1353/S.0813, the Homeless Protection Act, which designates certain offenses against homeless persons as hate crimes. RM LS#4529 4/7/2015