Cruise Ships: The New Homeless Shelters?
Travel Blog • Michael Yessis • 11.24.02 | 5:37 PM ET
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other local government officials are exploring whether the luxury ships tied up at city docks could be used as temporary housing for the homeless. One official says they’re “thinking outside the box.”
They’re not. It’s an old idea that dates to the 14th century Europe, at least, according to a New York Times story. It’s even been tried before in NYC. Writes Barbara Stewart: “In 1898, New York City put homeless men—or tramps, as they were called—on ships, after Theodore Roosevelt, serving as president of the Board of Police Commissioners, gave his officers two weeks to stop housing tramps in police stations.”
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Michael Yessis is the cofounder and coeditor-in-chief of World Hum.
