NYC Mayor Moves Homeless from Hotels Back to Shelters
Thursday, September 10, 2020
On Thursday, Mayor Bill de Blasio defended his decision to relocate homeless residents back to shelters from two neighborhood hotels, arguing that the shelters were now safe and indicating that the decision was not tied to the backlash against their temporary presence there.
The move came after the mayor heard complaints when he visited both the Upper West Side, where The Lucerne Hotel on West 79th Street housed some 300 homeless men and Queensbridge Houses, where the LIC Plaza Hotel accommodated an unspecified number of homeless persons.
Particularly rancorous was the reaction from the Upper West Side community, a supposedly liberal and relatively affluent neighborhood, where local residents threatened to sue the city if the homeless residents were not removed.
“We never intended them to be in hotels on a long-term basis,” said de Blasio at his Thursday morning news briefing, “in fact, our policy is the opposite… we want to get out of hotels progressively.”
Over 60 hotels across the city provide shelter to some of the estimated 10,000 homeless persons as a temporary measure to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
According to de Blasio and the city’s Department of Homeless Services data, the number of people in shelters has seen an unexpected decline making it “exactly the time to get out of hotels.” As of September 8th, the total of homeless New Yorkers relying on the shelter system is 54,477 compared to the 58,043 individuals who relied on these services in March 2020 when New York City entered its coronavirus lockdown.
As overcrowding and cleanliness continue to be the primary concern of congregate and non-congregate shelters, open shelters in the city are advised to follow coronavirus guidelines. An employee of The New York City Rescue Mission, on 90 Lafayette Street, said that their shelter provides air-conditioned ventilation, sets beds 6 feet apart, creates distance between each person eating in the dining room, and does not allow residents to gather in groups. They are also required to wear masks at all times around the facility unless they are sleeping or eating and must wash hands and use hand sanitizer regularly.
Mayor de Blasio informs us that the Department of Homeless Services, along with the city’s health agencies, is currently determining a series of actions that focus on the health and safety of homeless New Yorkers and align with the de Blasio administration’s “turning the tide on homelessness” policy. He assures New Yorkers, “if the healthcare situation demanded we needed to use hotels again, of course, we would.”
