scholarly journals Perceptions about the Federally Mandated Smoke-Free Housing Policy among Residents Living in Public Housing in New York City

Author(s):  
Nan Jiang ◽  
Lorna Thorpe ◽  
Sue Kaplan ◽  
Donna Shelley

Background: To assess residents’ attitudes towards the United States (U.S.) Department of Housing and Urban Development’s new smoke-free public housing policy, perceptions about barriers to policy implementation, and suggestions for optimizing implementation. Methods: In 2017, we conducted 10 focus groups among 91 residents (smokers and nonsmokers) living in New York City public housing. Results: Smokers and nonsmokers expressed skepticism about the public housing authority’s capacity to enforce the policy due to widespread violations of the current smoke-free policy in common areas and pervasive use of marijuana in buildings. Most believed that resident engagement in the roll-out and providing smoking cessation services was important for compliance. Resident expressed concerns about evictions and worried that other building priorities (i.e., repairs, drug use) would be ignored with the focus now on smoke-free housing. Conclusions: Resident-endorsed strategies to optimize implementation effectiveness include improving the access to cessation services, ongoing resident engagement, education and communication to address misconceptions and concerns about enforcement, and placing smoke-free homes in a larger public housing authority healthy housing agenda.

2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan Allen ◽  
David Van Riper

ABSTRACTBetween 1934 and the time of the 1940 Census, the US government built and leased 30,151 units of public housing, but we know little about the residents who benefited from this housing. We use a unique methodology that compares addresses of five public housing developments to complete-count data from the 1940 Census to identify residents of public housing in New York City at the time of the census. We compare these residents to the larger pool of residents living in New York City in 1940 who were eligible to apply for the housing to assess how closely housing authorities adhered to the intent of the National Industrial Recovery Act (1933) and the Housing Act of 1937. This comparison produces a picture of whom public housing administrators considered deserving of this public benefit at the dawn of the public housing program in the United States. Results indicate a shift toward serving households with lower incomes over time. All the developments had a consistent preference for households with a “nuclear family” structure, but policies favoring racial segregation and other discretion on the part of housing authorities for tenant selection created distinct populations across housing developments. Households headed by a naturalized citizen were favored over households headed by a native-born citizen in nearly all the public housing projects. This finding suggests a more nuanced understanding of who public housing administrators considered deserving of the first public housing than archival research accounts had previously indicated.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erica Lasek-Nesselquist ◽  
Navjot Singh ◽  
Alexis Russell ◽  
Daryl Lamson ◽  
John Kelly ◽  
...  

AbstractNew York State, in particular the New York City metropolitan area, was the early epicenter of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in the United States. Similar to initial pandemic dynamics in many metropolitan areas, multiple introductions from various locations appear to have contributed to the swell of positive cases. However, representation and analysis of samples from New York regions outside the greater New York City area were lacking, as were SARS-CoV-2 genomes from the earliest cases associated with the Westchester County outbreak, which represents the first outbreak recorded in New York State. The Wadsworth Center, the public health laboratory of New York State, sought to characterize the transmission dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 across the entire state of New York from March to September with the addition of over 600 genomes from under-sampled and previously unsampled New York counties and to more fully understand the breadth of the initial outbreak in Westchester County. Additional sequencing confirmed the dominance of B.1 and descendant lineages (collectively referred to as B.1.X) in New York State. Community structure, phylogenetic, and phylogeographic analyses suggested that the Westchester outbreak was associated with continued transmission of the virus throughout the state, even after travel restrictions and the on-pause measures of March, contributing to a substantial proportion of the B.1 transmission clusters as of September 30th, 2020.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (11) ◽  
pp. e2024385
Author(s):  
Lorna E. Thorpe ◽  
Elle Anastasiou ◽  
Katarzyna Wyka ◽  
Albert Tovar ◽  
Emily Gill ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Emma K. Tsui ◽  
Madeline Duffy ◽  
Sherry Baron

Across the United States, cities, states, and counties are rapidly adopting paid sick leave laws. Paid sick leave policies for restaurant workers may be particularly beneficial, since these workers are less likely to have these benefits and have the potential to spread infection through food-handling and engagement with the public. In order for paid sick leave laws to work, workers and employers must be educated about these laws broadly and effectively. Focusing on New York City, we conducted a pilot research using key stakeholder interviews to learn about New York City’s successes and challenges in educating workers and businesses about the law. Our findings indicate several lessons learned, including allocating sufficient funding, combined use of coalition building and organizing models, and attention to the needs of immigrant restaurant workers. Findings also suggest that greater attention should be paid to proactively addressing workplace organization and practices that thwart paid sick leave use.


1999 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-203
Author(s):  
Robert Chatham

The Court of Appeals of New York held, in Council of the City of New York u. Giuliani, slip op. 02634, 1999 WL 179257 (N.Y. Mar. 30, 1999), that New York City may not privatize a public city hospital without state statutory authorization. The court found invalid a sublease of a municipal hospital operated by a public benefit corporation to a private, for-profit entity. The court reasoned that the controlling statute prescribed the operation of a municipal hospital as a government function that must be fulfilled by the public benefit corporation as long as it exists, and nothing short of legislative action could put an end to the corporation's existence.In 1969, the New York State legislature enacted the Health and Hospitals Corporation Act (HHCA), establishing the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) as an attempt to improve the New York City public health system. Thirty years later, on a renewed perception that the public health system was once again lacking, the city administration approved a sublease of Coney Island Hospital from HHC to PHS New York, Inc. (PHS), a private, for-profit entity.


1997 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-223
Author(s):  
Lillian Taiz

Forty-eight hours after they landed in New York City in 1880, a small contingent of the Salvation Army held their first public meeting at the infamous Harry Hill's Variety Theater. The enterprising Hill, alerted to the group's arrival from Britain by newspaper reports, contacted their leader, Commissioner George Scott Railton, and offered to pay the group to “do a turn” for “an hour or two on … Sunday evening.” In nineteenth-century New York City, Harry Hill's was one of the best known concert saloons, and reformers considered him “among the disreputable classes” of that city. His saloon, they said, was “nothing more than one of the many gates to hell.”


2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-74
Author(s):  
Ryan P. McDonough ◽  
Paul J. Miranti ◽  
Michael P. Schoderbek

ABSTRACT This paper examines the administrative and accounting reforms coordinated by Herman A. Metz around the turn of the 20th century in New York City. Reform efforts were motivated by deficiencies in administering New York City's finances, including a lack of internal control over monetary resources and operational activities, and opaque financial reports. The activities of Comptroller Metz, who collaborated with institutions such as the New York Bureau of Municipal Research, were paramount in initiating and implementing the administrative and accounting reforms in the city, which contributed to reform efforts across the country. Metz promoted the adoption of functional cost classifications for city departments, developed flowcharts for improved transaction processing, strengthened internal controls, and published the 1909 Manual of Accounting and Business Procedure of the City of New York, which laid the groundwork for transparent financial reports capable of providing vital information about the city's activities and subsidiary units. JEL Classifications: H72, M41, N91. Data Availability: Data are available from the public sources cited in the text.


1984 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 231-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Avraham Shama ◽  
Joseph Wisenblit

This paper describes the relation between values and behavior of a new life style, that of voluntary simplicity which is characterized by low consumption, self-sufficiency, and ecological responsibility. Also, specific hypotheses regarding the motivation for voluntary simplicity and adoption in two areas of the United States were tested. Analysis shows (a) values of voluntary simplicity and behaviors are consistent, (b) the motivation for voluntary simplicity includes personal preference and economic hardship, and (c) adoption of voluntary simplicity is different in the Denver and New York City metropolitan areas.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Caitlin Gruer ◽  
Kim Hopper ◽  
Rachel Clark Smith ◽  
Erin Kelly ◽  
Andrew Maroko ◽  
...  

Abstract Background There has been increasing recognition that certain vulnerable populations in the United States of America struggle to meet their menstruation-related needs, including people experiencing homelessness. Media and policy attention on this subject has focused on the provision of free menstrual products to vulnerable populations, including a New York City legislative bill, which guarantees access to menstrual products for Department of Homeless Services shelter residents (Intros 1123-A). Methods This qualitative study explored the challenges people experiencing homelessness in New York City face in accessing menstrual products. Data collection was conducted from June to August 2019 and included: Semi-structured key informant interviews with staff from relevant government agencies and homeless service providers (n = 15), and semi-structured in-depth interviews with individuals with experience living on the street and in shelters (n = 22). Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Results Key themes that emerged included: (1) insufficient and inconsistent access to menstrual products; (2) systemic challenges to providing menstrual products; and (3) creative solutions to promote access to menstrual products. Both shelter- and street-living individuals reported significant barriers to accessing menstrual products. While both populations struggle, those in shelters were more likely to be able to purchase menstrual products or access free products at their shelter, while those living on the streets were more likely to have to resort to panhandling, theft, or using makeshift materials in place of menstrual products. Across both populations, individuals described barriers to accessing free products at shelters and service providers, primarily due to distribution systems that rely on gatekeepers to provide a few pads or tampons at a time, sometimes of inadequate quality and only upon request. Shelters and service providers also described challenges providing these products, including inconsistent supply. Conclusion These findings highlight the critical importance of expanding and improving initiatives seeking to provide access to menstrual products for vulnerable populations. Despite policy level efforts to support menstrual product access, individuals experiencing homelessness in New York City, whether living in shelters or on the street, are often not able to access the menstrual products that they need to manage their monthly menstrual flow.


2008 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin C. Fenley ◽  
Sarah J. Bober ◽  
Mebane E. Powell ◽  
Jacquelin Berman ◽  
Barbara N. Altman

This article reports on the first 2 years of an ongoing project that examined the efficacy of a 10-hour dementia training provided to entry-level personal care aide (PCA) trainees from the Hispanic, White, African American, and Asian communities in New York City. Participants were enrolled in a 90-hour PCA training program offered by the New York City Department for the Aging and were either recipients of public assistance, displaced employees from September 11, or recent immigrants to the United States from China. Classes were conducted in Spanish, English, and Mandarin/Cantonese. An 11-item Knowledge of Alzheimer’s Disease instrument was developed for the purposes of this project and administered before and after the dementia training and at 3 months following graduation. All groups, regardless of language, showed a significant increase in knowledge of Alzheimer’s disease at the conclusion of the training and retention of this knowledge at 3 months follow-up. Age was strongly correlated with an increase in knowledge, while gender and education were not.


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