The brand new regulation might have a “chilling impact” on advocacy by residents who use photographs and movies to indicate proof of issues inside New York Metropolis homeless shelters.
Adi Talwar
A shelter within the Bronx.
A brand new rule banning photographs and video inside New York Metropolis homeless shelters might stop residents from documenting harmful situations and gas pointless run-ins with safety, warn shoppers and advocates now urging the town to alter the broad regulation.
The Division of Homeless Companies (DHS) rule, which took impact Nov. 1, prohibits tenants and employees from taking photos, recording video or livestreaming inside shelter widespread areas to “defend a shopper’s proper to privateness”—a priority amongst residents and employees who say they don’t need their faces or figuring out data posted on-line. Residents who violate the rule are topic to “suspension of providers,” which means they might be kicked out.
However the regulation has left residents and their advocates confused and anxious, saying the ban might take away a layer of oversight at a time when the shelter system is struggling to meet capacity. They fear shoppers might be punished for documenting issues—and even video-chatting with family and friends.
“My roommate FaceTimes along with her mates. Is she going to get in hassle for that?” stated Wykeshia Mitchell, who shares a room with a number of different girls in a shelter in The Bronx.
The company stated the brand new rule doesn’t prohibit recordings or photographs that present shelter situations so long as shopper faces will not be proven. However DHS has not spelled out any of that nuance within the “No Recording” posters now caught to shelter partitions.
DHS
A poster in DHS shelters instructing residents to not file.
Mitchell stated her shelter has such a poster, connected to the rule issued by DHS, which options pictures of crossed out cell telephones and cameras, together with a message informing shoppers and employees that “Video, audio recordings or reside streaming will not be allowed until approved by the company.”
“Most individuals in shelters don’t see these insurance policies however they do see these flyers,” stated Coalition for the Homeless Coverage Director Jacquelyn Simone. “It creates extra confusion and pointless pressure.”
A DHS spokesperson advised Metropolis Limits that the brand new rule is supposed to protect shopper privateness, particularly for minor kids.
“All DHS shoppers have a proper to privateness when receiving DHS providers, and it’s our obligation as an company to offer providers that maximize shopper privateness whereas guaranteeing their well being and security,” the spokesperson stated, including that DHS has not discharged any shoppers from shelters this 12 months for violating the rule.
