Just a few weeks after the Bloomberg administration quietly began charging rent to homeless families who live in shelters but have an income from jobs, The New York Times has reported that the administration has temporarily suspended the rent program due to mismanagement and the threat of a lawsuit.

Regarding some of the mismanagement, Michael Hayes, a spokesman for the State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, said that there were some “technical glitches.”

Of the roughly 500 homeless families who were meant to receive notices advising them to begin paying rent, about 190 received notices with errors, including miscalculations in the amount of rent due, Mr. Hayes said. He said the Human Resources Administration, the city’s welfare agency, was responsible for some of the errors, largely for some notices not getting out.

Shelter providers are also infuriated by a message from Anne Heller, a deputy commissioner at the Department of Homeless Services, who asked them to “give the Department of Homeless Services examples of families who are working full time and successfully paying rent — so the department could “put a positive spin” on the rent program.”

Here’s hoping the temporarily suspended program becomes permanently shut down.

(Source: The New York Times)