Opinion: Email to the Commissioner of NYC Social Services office about my storage room.

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Greetings Commissioner Department of Social Services,

First and foremost, thank you and your stellar staff for the help you provide for me and so many others. HRA saved my life. I will never forget that. 

I will always act accordingly whenever I interact with any and all staff from HRA. Regardless of what’s going on and how anyone treats me, good or bad, I always treat everyone at HRA with the absolute utmost respect at all times. 

I’m not sure why but for some reason the check for my storage company never arrived this month. I have a little storage room that costs $50 per month. 

I live in the street homeless so that storage room is a lifesaver. The best thing about my storage room is that I have 24 hours per day access to my belongings. 

I uploaded the bill from my storage company into the HRA app on October 21, 2021, and again on October 30, 2021 just in case there was a technical error. 

I used to provide the storage bill once per year. Then HRA changed the process. Now HRA requires that I upload the bill once per month. 

I believe the cut-off for my storage company to receive the bill is November 10, 2021. If the bill isn’t paid by then I’m going to have to take my food money to pay the bill. 

I could easily survive with the amount of food money you give me per month if I was in an apartment. What makes it challenging is being street homeless. Specifically, not having anywhere to cook or store food drives up the cost for me and I’m sure others. 

Thanks to HRA and Baruch College / CUNY I’m getting an education. Hopefully, new doors and opportunities will open up if I stay focused. 

I don’t drink. I don’t smoke. I don’t have a criminal record. All I do is focus on being productive. 

Please let me know if you require any additional information from me. My access HRA account says I don’t have another certification until June 2022. 

Thank you and have a great day. 

Ever upward, 

Mark Pine

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Mark Pine

New York City startups, web marketing, and Baruch College journalism major. 917-815-5415 social@markpine.com