Wanted: Actors who look homeless

Wanted: Actors who look homeless

Francois Duhamel/AP

Would Jamie Foxx, who played a homeless man in "The Soloist," make the grade for New York City public service announcement?

When the city Homeless Services Department went looking for people to play the homeless in a public service announcement, it put out a casting call for actors.

Bureaucrats prepping for the agencys first such announcement in three years sounded like Broadway producers in a Casting.com ad, asking for real people types.

Advocates for the homeless were quick to bash the idea of paying s tand-ins for the real deal.

With an all-time record 41,000 kids and adults crowding the shelter system, the city doesnt need to spend taxpayer dollars on a casting call to find real people dealing with homelessness in New York, said Patrick Markee, Coalition for the Homeless senior policy analyst.

The public service announcement is for print-based ads, according to the casting call.

Homeless Services Department spokeswoman Heather Janik said it will be out soon.

She refused to reveal details of the announcement, nor would she divulge how much it cost or where it will appear. The casting call ad was taken down after the Daily News asked about it.

The agency had specific types in mind: a Latin dad and Latin mom in their mid to late 20s who were NOT too modelly (sic).

It was also looking for a girl about 4 or 5 years old, two multiethnic boys ages 7 to 10 and a grandma in her late 40s.

Talent should be real people type, pr eferably ethnically ambiguous, the ad read.

The city was looking for 10 nonunion actors willing to work the two-day shoot for $ 250 each.

City Councilwoman Letitia James (D-Brooklyn) questioned the sense of spending public funds to hire
an actor to play homeless people for cash-strapped Homeless Services.

We see more and more homeless on the street every day, James bristled. Theres nothing ambiguous about that. Its not necessary that we see them in slick Madison Avenue ads.

She noted that the agency had cut off families who were part of its Advantage rental subsidy program and that many of them are at risk of becoming homeless.

The city Health Department is well known for its tough anti-smoking public service announcements. The Administration for Childrens Services also produces ads to promote good parenting.

Councilwoman Gale Brewer (D-Manhattan) said Homeless Services Department officials would have been better off giv ing the money directly to the homeless.

The goal is to prevent homelessness, Brewer said. The best way is to give the money to community organizations for outreach. Thats where the money should go, as opposed to a public service announcement.

tmoore@nydailynews.com