Opinion: Email to the New York City welfare office (HRA) on July 11, 2022.

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Greetings HRA, 

First and foremost thank you for all the help. 

I am a full time Baruch College student that has been living in the street homeless for the past five years. 

I don’t drink. I don’t smoke. I don’t party. I don’t have a criminal record. 

I always treat all the HRA staff and security guards with the absolute utmost respect at all times. Most of the welfare recipients are respectful with the HRA staff like myself but it’s still a demanding job for the HRA team and they are appreciated. 

I’m not taking any classes this summer at Baruch College.

I was signed up for two classes and I dropped them both. 

I dropped one summer class at Baruch College on June 13, 2022. I dropped the second Baruch College summer class a week or two later. 

Fall 2022 I’m signed up for a full time schedule at Baruch College. That starts on August 25, 2022. 

In the meantime I did all the preparation to work for RF CUNY at Baruch College although I don’t believe there are any job openings. 

I went on a RF CUNY interview for the library and they said they had a large number of applicants for the position so they couldn’t hire me. 

When I was at LaGuardia Community College before Baruch College I was able to obtain a job with RF CUNY very easily. I assume that’s because it’s a much smaller school. 

At first I didn’t realize how competitive RF CUNY is at Baruch College so I was asking for the library. Now that I realize I might not be able to land a RF CUNY job at all I notified the CUNY Edge office I’ll take a job in any department. 

The reason for this note is that classes don’t start again until August 25, 2022.

Due to the fact that there are no openings at RF CUNY I’m unable to find a job so I’m not working. 

I’m still receiving the MetroCard money every week. If I’m not supposed to be receiving the MetroCard money I just wanted to point it out because I don’t want anything that isn’t mine. I always follow the HRA rules exactly as they are required. 

I just recertified my public assistance case so I’m set until June 2023. I just don’t believe I’m supposed to receive the MetroCard money if I’m not working for RF CUNY and I’m off from school. That was my experience last summer. 

Please advise. 

Thank you and have a great day. 

Mark Pine

Auto response from HRA:

Thank you for contacting the City of New York. Your message has been forwarded to the appropriate agency for review and handling.

For future reference, your correspondence number is 1-1-7150695

Sincerely,

The City of New York

This is an auto-generated system message. Please do not reply to this message. Messages received through this address are not processed.

Thank you.

Email to HRA about my welfare case on July 6, 2022.

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Greetings HRA,

First and foremost, thank you very much for all the help and information. 

I believe there might be a ;mistake with my Access HRA account. 

Last month my SNAP account or food stamps were added to my account on June 10, 2022. 

Today is July 6, 2022 and I’m not seeing any future payments on my account. 

Usually by now my Access HRA account would show when the next future payment. 

My next recertification is for June 2023. 

I’m a full time student at Baruch College. 

My classes start back up on August 25, 2022. 

In the meantime, I’m waiting for my next interview for RF CUNY. 

Can someone please look into my account and see why there are no future payments showing? 

Thank you and have a great day.

Mark Pine

Response from HRA:

Thank you for contacting the City of New York. Your message has been forwarded to the appropriate agency for review and handling.

For future reference, your correspondence number is 1-1-8789155

Sincerely,

The City of New York

This is an auto-generated system message. Please do not reply to this message. Messages received through this address are not processed.

Thank you.

Opinion: New York City law enforcement is still sabotaging me with the welfare office. June 22, 2022.

 700 total views,  1 views today

Greetings HRA, 

First and foremost I treat everyone at HRA, CUNY Edge, etc., with the utmost respect at all times. That is more important than anything. 

People I know pay New York City law enforcement to harass me every day. That’s the reason I’m homeless. 

I’m making the best of it. I don’t drink. I don’t smoke. I don’t party. I don’t have a criminal record. 

I went to the HRA office on 14th Street with my monthly storage bill.

My Access HRA account says the check was mailed on June 14, 2022. 

I checked my online account for the storage room. It’s showing that the storage place didn’t receive the check. 

This has happened before it’s no big deal. 

I suspect that New York City law enforcement steals my checks out of the mail. 

I have had my mail stolen so many times I lost count including checks from HRA to the storage place. 

I don’t bother the USPS about it because from my experience there is no stopping law enforcement when they are running their usual scams.

I also wanted to mention that I’m not taking a class during Summer 1 at Baruch College. 

I was taking a class during Summer 1 at Baruch College and I dropped the class on June 13, 2022. 

The CUNY Edge office said that I might have a job with RF CUNY at the school so I’m waiting for that. 

I just wanted to give you a quick update. 

Thank you again for all the help. 

Have a great day.

Mark Pine

Thank you for contacting the City of New York. Your message has been forwarded to the appropriate agency for review and handling.

For future reference, your correspondence number is 1-1-139501

Sincerely,

The City of New York

This is an auto-generated system message. Please do not reply to this message. Messages received through this address are not processed.

Thank you.

Email to HRA (NYC welfare office) about my storage room. June 9, 2022.

 529 total views,  3 views today

Greetings HRA, 

First and foremost thank you very much for all the help. The whole HRA staff is as helpful as humanly possible. 

I just submitted my storage payment for the month of July 2022. For some reason, the bill doesn’t get paid unless I send an email here. For example, there have been months where I had to pay the bill out of the other money you send me or the payment would have been late. 

When I receive the bill from the storage company I take a screenshot of the bill on my phone and upload a perfectly clear copy into the HRA app. 

I just completed my recertification. If I’m correct everything went perfectly: the interview, the documentation from CUNY Edge and me, etc. Your team at the 14th Street HRA location was very helpful. 

Please help with the storage payment if possible. If you require any additional information from me please let me know. 

Thank you and have a great day. 

Mark Pine 

Auto response:

Thank you for contacting the City of New York. Your message has been forwarded to the appropriate agency for review and handling.

For future reference, your correspondence number is 1-1-513057

Sincerely,

The City of New York

Email to New York City Human Resources Administration about my welfare case recertification. June 7, 2022.

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Greetings HRA,

I turned in all my documentation for my recertification. 

Baruch College turned in the school documentation. 

I had my interview in person at 14 Street Manhattan today June 7, 2022. 

I just noticed in my account that there was a language questionnaire. 

After I filled out and completed the language questionnaire I uploaded it into the Access HRA app. 

I uploaded it into the other tab because I didn’t see a tab for language questionnaires. 

I’ll keep checking for any additional updates. 

Please let me know if anything else is needed for my recertification. 

Thank you and have a great day.

Mark Pine

Email to the New York City Human Resources Administration about losing my public benefits card.

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Greetings Department of Social Services, 

I have received a few letters in the mail warning me that I might be in trouble for losing my public benefits card. 

First of all, I would like to say thank you to everyone at the New York City Human Resources Administration. The help I receive from HRA is a lifesaver. 

I’m 44 years young and I have been homeless for about five years. I tried living in the shelters but I didn’t like it. 

For about the last year and a half, I have been attending The City University of New York. 

First I was at LaGuardia Community College. I earned a 3.975 GPA after 36 credits. 

Now I’m at Baruch College. I’m in my first semester and things are going very well. 

I have been robbed several times and had my wallet stolen. A few times I reported it to the police and there should be police reports on the NYPD computers. 

I don’t have a criminal record at all. I don’t drink. I don’t smoke. I don’t party. I don’t do anything illegal. 

One time I went to HRA for a new public benefits card. HRA gave me a temporary card. After I went back to get the permanent card, I received a letter saying I’m in trouble for losing cards. 

I have been robbed of clothes, laptops, smartphones, and anything else you can imagine. I will continue to try and be as careful as possible. 

Please let me know if there is anything I can do to improve my standing with HRA. I do everything exactly as HRA requests. I treat the staff at all HRA locations with the utmost respect at all times. 

Please advise.

Thank you and have a great day. 

Ever upward,

Mark Pine

@markpine360 Tweet showing the confirmation regarding my email to the New York City Human Resources Administration.
This is a YouTube video of me reading this blog post.