Prior to looking at the timeline and reading the article associated with the second link, I knew little to nothing about former Mayor Bloomberg’s policies regarding the homeless in New York. It is distressing to learn that this man was able to undo the work and progress of four previous New York City mayors with a couple of policy changes.

The main solution to addressing the problem of homelessness was to provide permanent shelter and living situations to those in need through the use of housing programs. Bloomberg, in 2010, was able to terminate the programs that provided aid to families in financial situations. This basically undid the past two decades worth of work and forced the possibly rehabilitated homeless people back into homeless shelters.

It is not hard to see why, a man born rich, and made even richer by the opportunities offered to him later on in life, would not be able to comprehend the situation that many less fortunate people are in. Undoubtedly, he himself has probably never been in a situation where he was forced into a homeless shelter. And while the word shelter itself gives the connotation of safety, it is anything but. There are countless stories that have been told about the horrors that go on in these shelters, anywhere from sexual harassment to theft. So for a man who has never been in such a desperate situation to undo the hard work of others, to worsen the living conditions for many families and thousands of children and to enforce policies that work against the betterment of homeless people, just shows how those elected into a position of power may never truly understand these underlying problems of the city.