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Q&A
Council Member Ayala questions the Pathway Home program's eligibility and effectiveness
2:26:06
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116 sec
Council Member Diana I. Ayala questions the eligibility criteria and research methodology of the Pathway Home program, which requires participants to have a friend or family member to live with. Commissioner Molly Wasow Park explains the program's flexibility and rationale, emphasizing that no one will be denied shelter or other housing subsidies they would normally be eligible for.
- Park hypothesizes that Pathway Home could be valuable due to the city's low vacancy rate and the challenges of being a young parent.
- The program aims to provide financial support for living with friends or family during a transitional period.
- Park acknowledges that the effectiveness of the program is yet to be determined through the research study.
Diana I. Ayala
2:26:06
Okay, the pathway home program requires that a person have a friend or a family member that they can move in with and the program will provide monthly payments for up to twelve months.
2:26:17
How can people be randomly assigned to the program for research purposes if there's a condition that requires them to have a family or a friend to live with?
Molly Wasow Park
2:26:26
So nobody is going to be denied shelter, right?
2:26:29
So if you were in the Pathway Home group and you do not have an appropriate place to live, a family or a friend where you can use that subsidy, then of course you're eligible for shelter and you'll be eligible for the housing subsidies that you might become eligible for under a normal course of business.
2:26:51
So nobody is being denied anything that they would have access to today before the initiative launches.
2:26:59
The reason we are doing this is my and this is me, Molly speaking, personally my hypothesis is actually that Pathway Home will be a really valuable tool here.
2:27:11
We know city, A, that the city has a really low vacancy rate.
2:27:16
It's hard to go out and find an apartment.
2:27:18
Also knowing that having a baby is a really tough moment and actually being on one's own particularly if you're a young parent of your first kid that that could be challenging.
2:27:31
And actually having a situation be financially viable to be with friend or family, that that might actually be a really good option for stabilizing and dealing with this particular point in transition.
2:27:45
But that is my personal hypothesis.
2:27:48
I don't actually know if it's true.
2:27:49
If what we find is that most of the people who were assigned to the Pathway Home group end up entering a shelter and sort of behaving more or less like the control group then what that will say to me is that Pathway Home isn't the tool that we should be using.