Legal Aid Society
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1999

Protecting Benefits and Improving Shelter Conditions

Legal Aid Society staff obtained a federal court order directing the City to stop denying food stamps, Medicaid, and cash assistance to low-income families who seek help on an emergency basis.

In Jamie B. V. Hernandez, we achieved a settlement requiring the City to provide an adequate supply of non-secure detention beds for all children in New York City in need of, or ordered into, such a setting. In addition, we started litigation to enforce the new local law requiring the expeditious provision of shelter for homeless families, including as evidence graphic pictures of children sleeping on the floors of a City shelter intake facility.