[UPDATE] After NIMBY Outcry, City To Move Homeless Residents Out Of Upper West Side Hotel

The cohort of angry Upper West Siders who threatened to sue the city after shelter residents were temporarily moved into neighborhood hotels are now celebrating the Department of Homeless Services’ decision to move the 300 residents of one hotel back into traditional shelter facilities as early as next week. 

DHS is moving residents out of the Lucerne Hotel, on West 79th Street, as well as the LIC Plaza Hotel in Queens. 

The city moved 10,000 shelter residents from congregate shelter settings, which have multiple beds placed close together in open-plan rooms, to hotels across the city in recent months in order to mitigate the spread of coronavirus.  DHS made it clear Wednesday that none of the people being moved out of the Lucerne or the LIC Plaza will be placed back in congregate shelters. Instead, they will be placed in family shelters, where residents typically have separate apartments. Update: The agency confirmed that 500 individuals in family shelters—about 250 families— have been moved to accommodate the shelter residents from hotels. (More updates below.)

DHS has not announced any intention of moving residents out of three other hotels being used as shelters on the Upper West Side at this time.

Still, Randy Mastro, the lawyer representing the Upper West Side residents upset over homeless New Yorkers moving into hotels in the neighborhood, counted the decision as a win. He attributed the move to pressure the group he represents, the West Side Community Organization, put on the de Blasio administration.

“On behalf of the West Side Community Organization, which I am honored to represent, we appreciate that the City—at our urging—will be immediately taking concrete steps to address the chaos that reached a crisis point over the past several weeks when the City relocated hundreds of homeless individuals into the Lucerne Hotel, many of whom suffered from mental illness, addiction and other serious problems,” Mastro said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Judith Goldiner, attorney-in-charge of the Civil Law Reform Unit  at the Legal Aid Society, lamented in a statement that the “de Blasio Administration capitulated so quickly to Upper West Side NIMBYism, putting our clients at increased risk in the middle of an unprecedented public health crisis, which has already claimed the lives of 104 homeless New Yorkers.”

There are currently more than 60 hotels in the city being used as shelters and DHS says this move will allow it to begin to reduce that footprint.

“As we have said, our use of commercial hotels to combat COVID is temporary,” DHS said in a statement, “and as part of our effort to continually review and streamline the footprint of our shelter locations, while always ensuring effective provision of services, we’re beginning to relocate individuals from several commercial hotel locations to alternative non-congregate shelter locations, where we can continue to implement social distancing and provide isolation.”

At a press conference on Wednesday morning, Mayor Bill de Blasio said he personally made the decision to move the shelter residents after visiting the Upper West Side last week.

“I went to the Upper West Side because I had heard such concern from the community,” de Blasio said. “I know the Upper West Side really well, what I saw was not to me, acceptable.”

Yet the mayor also attempted to categorize his decision as a return to his normal policy of moving New Yorkers experiencing homelessness away from hotels and cluster sites and into shelters and eventually, permanent housing.

“The entire impetus originally at the height of the coronavirus was to get people out of more crowded facilities into other environments,” the mayor said. “But the height of the coronavirus is behind us, thankfully.” 

A DHS official previously told Upper West Siders that the city would rely on data to inform the decision on when to move people out of hotels, taking into account the possibility of a resurgence of coronavirus in the fall.

“It would be a terribly unfortunate circumstance to rush and move everyone back into congregate locations because of the current city infection rate, only to have a second wave come and hit us in the fall and have to relocate 10,000 clients back to commercial hotels to protect them,” the official, Erin Drinkwater, said last month.

DHS says it has vacancies within the family shelter system, but the Legal Aid Society argues that moving people from hotels to family shelters will still be disruptive. Under state regulations, single adults and families cannot be housed in the same facilities, meaning families will likely have to be relocated to accommodate the people moving out of hotels.

“Although these single adults will be relocated to a non-congregate family shelter with private rooms, there is no legal or moral justification forcing the City to upend the lives of some of New York’s most vulnerable in such a callous manner,” Goldiner said. 

The NY Times notes that the eviction moratorium might be the reason why there are vacancies in the family shelter system. 

The Legal Aid Society previously said, in response to the lawsuit threatened by Mastro and the West Side Community Organization, that it would sue the city if it put shelter residents’ safety at risk. In her statement, Goldiner said the organization is monitoring the situation and “considering all options.”

Update: Elected officials and Upper West Side residents held a mid-day press conference outside the Lucerne to criticize the mayor's decision. Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal noted that the neighborhood is a "bastion of great privilege," and reflected that the homeless should be treated with love. “Instead the city will spirit these people out of their safe haven with the same haste they moved them in – under great threat and with little warning to them," she said. "It's clear there’s no long-term plan."

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams called the displacement of homeless families "disgusting" and pointed out that some UWS residents may have been mistaking homeless people who have been living on the street with the shelter residents in hotels. "[Residents] didn’t take the time to find out what was happening," he said. "They are still going to complain because street homeless are still homeless. This mayor failed before the pandemic."

The press conference was organized by the Upper West Side Open Hearts Initiative. Corrine Low, who co-founded the group, has been dismayed by the violent rhetoric from residents suspicious of the shelter residents. "This is a testament to those with money and power – the money could have gone to the shelter residents," she said. "But instead it’s going to Randy Mastro’s yacht fund. He should donate his earnings to Project Renewal," referring to the nonprofit that operates the shelter.

Low reminded the crowd that de Blasio had a different opinion when moving the residents into the shelter: "Hey, remember when the mayor said he didn’t care who sued him and that the decision was about public health?"

Legal Aid attorney Joshua Goldfein invoked de Blasio's mayoral campaign slogan. "It’s the tale of two cities all right – if you are rich, you can treat some parts of the city as a gated community," he said.

Roberto Mangual, 27, has been living at the Lucerne as a shelter resident for three months. "The experience is very calming compared to Wards Island, which to me was like a jail setting," he explained.

"I’m a young man. I’ve never touched a drug in my life, due to fact that my mom is an ex-junkie," Mangual added. "To be pushed into a circle with these group of people who have issues is very hurting."

With reporting from Emily Lang