New York City mayor Bill de Blasio was approached while at the Park Slope YMCA during his daily workout today (Oct. 5), and he wasn't having any of it. As Patch reports, 72-year-old homeless woman Nathylin Flowers Adesegun was evicted from her home three years ago, and she wanted to ask Blasio himself why more wasn't being done for New York's homeless.
“I shook the Mayor’s hand this morning, and asked why he wouldn’t do more to help homeless New Yorkers like myself,” Adesegun explained as Bklyner points out. “I am 72 years old and have been homeless for three years, but he made it clear that his morning workout was more important to him.”
When approached, de Blasio smiled before responding, "I'm doing my workout. I can't do this right now." He then proceeded to stand up and walk away, followed by one of his security guards. Adesegun can be seen in the video above asking Blasio directly why only five percent of the 300,000 units of affordable housing available in NYC housed the city's homeless population. Blasio clearly didn't have an answer, refusing to engage.
"We're not asking for much," Adesegun explained. "Commit 30,000 units of your housing plan for homeless New Yorkers. Every time we ask him to do more for homeless New Yorkers, he changes the subject to prevention and the economy—but am I just supposed to stay homeless?”
Adesegun is currently a community leader at VOCAL-NY, an organization currently working with NYC's lower income individuals affected by incarceration, drug use, HIV/AIDS.
Activists waited for de Blasio as he finished his workout, demanding answers as he left.
