Here’s a sign the recession is not over: New York City this year may discontinue its program of buying scarves, backpacks, even watches, for the homeless at Christmas.
Watches? For the homeless?
“It does strike me as surprising, if not shocking,’’ said Mary Brosnahan, the executive director for the Coalition for the Homeless, who had not heard of the program. “I have a waiting room of people every morning in desperate need of help, and I’ve been at the coalition for 20 years and never heard anyone say they needed a watch.”
The gift program has been around since 2002 when the city decided that providing small, personal items to a needy population would be a nice, useful gesture. Over the years, purchasing orders (one pictured below) show that the city has spent about $25,000 buying more than 6,500 watches and thousands of dollars more buying scarves and other gifts for single men and women in the shelter system. Officials say they try to keep the cost below $10 a person.
New York’s generosity is rare among cities, according to Philip F. Mangano, former executive director of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness in Washington. He applauded city officials for taking risks in their efforts to serve an often invisible minority.
“Some taxpayers, I’m sure, might say, ‘Oh, that might seem frivolous or luxurious in a certain way,’ ” he said, “not realizing the nuances that are again taken for granted by most of us about that aspect of daily life.’’
The “GS-95″ digital watches that the city rejected in 2006 in favor of watches costing more than twice the price.For example, he said, given the need to be punctual for job interviews or shelter curfews, a gift like a watch can make sense. “It fosters a bit more of a sense of independence,’’ he said.
City officials said that while they have continued to give items like scarves, gloves and backpacks in recent years, they have not given out watches since 2006. Robert V. Hess, the commissioner of the city’s Department of Homeless Services, said, however, that the agency had not been dissatisfied with the concept of giving watches, or with the watches themselves. “Generally, people felt it had some value, and clients were benefiting,” he said.
Records show that the city paid $6.75 apiece for the watches that year, more than twice what it had paid in prior years. Officials said the city did not select the lowest bid because the cheaper watches, pictured above, would have needed a battery replacement after one year. The watches they selected instead came from Finesse Creations of Brooklyn and were a water-resistant men’s watch with a metal band and quartz movement.
Regardless of whether future gifts will be watches, warm clothes or something else, it is not clear that the city will be able to continue its giving gifts this year, Mr. Hess said. “These are very difficult economic times,’’ he said.
Gifts for homeless children would not be affected because they are traditionally donated by others.
Advocates for the homeless say financial strains are evident throughout a city system that spends more than $700 million a year to meet the needs of the homeless. David Obele, one of three New York City monitors charged with checking on shelter conditions under a 1981 consent decree, [pdf] said the city often did not meet a court-ordered requirement to provide basic items like fresh sheets, blankets and towels on a weekly basis. “When they can’t have pillows, why give them watches?’’ he asked.
City officials refused to name the shelters where they have distributed gifts, “due to client confidentiality,’’ but they said the watches were distributed at shelters the city operates for single adults, such as a large men’s shelter in Brooklyn, at the corner of Bedford and Atlantic Avenues.
Several men outside that shelter this month said they have lived there for several years but do not remember getting a watch or other gift from the city. They would welcome one.
“You want to know what time it is, you got to ask someone,’’ said Gregory Session, 49.
Three other homeless men yanked up their sleeves to show they indeed did not have timepieces.
“Hey, I’m late, man,’’ joked Willie Fluellen, 48, gazing at his naked wrist.