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City Stops Moving People From Homeless Hotels Back to Shelters After New Legal Aid Lawsuit

July 11, 2021 | 9:07 AM
in NEWS
45
No one has yet been moved from the Hotel Belleclaire.

By Carol Tannenhauser

The city has stopped transferring homeless people back to congregate shelters from the commercial hotels they have been staying in during the pandemic, until a motion filed by the Legal Aid Society is decided in court this Tuesday, according to Joshua Goldfein, a staff attorney for Legal Aid.

Congregate shelters typically house 10-20 people in one room, according to The New York Times.

The transfers started this month. Legal Aid contends that the way they were carried out “violated a standing court order requiring the city to accommodate people’s disabilities in the shelter system,” Goldfein said. “About two-thirds of the single adults in the shelter system have some kind of disability that would have to be considered when placing them. The point of the case is not to keep the hotels open forever. It just means the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) has to go back and review the cases and make sure they are placing people in settings that are appropriate for them.”

Isaac McGinn, a spokesman for DHS, said 23 of more than 60 hotels have already been emptied. “We will review the specific allegations and related cases referenced in the suit,” he stated in an email. “That said, we developed a comprehensive Reasonable Accommodation process, which was agreed to in a court settlement, giving providers and clients advance notice ahead of moves — including back in May — so that clients could work with providers to request accommodations as needed.”

For whatever reason, Brian Lucas wasn’t granted an accommodation. “I feel kind of bad about moving,” he said, as he was about to board a bus in front of The Lucerne, last week. “Cause we goin’ back into the shelter. We’re goin’ to be right next to people. I’ve been here a year already and I haven’t got my housing. I’m disabled. I can’t work. I don’t really know what’s holding it up.”

About 8,000 people were moved to hotels throughout the city when the lockdown began in the spring of 2020, in an effort to protect them from the coronavirus and avert any potential super-spreader situations. A month ago, when the CDC lifted COVID restrictions, the mayor announced, “It is time to move homeless folks who were in hotels for a temporary period of time back to shelters where they can get the support they need.”

Homeless people and advocates say it is premature, considering the appearance of the Delta variant, and the fact that the percentage of homeless people vaccinated is not known, but estimated to be low, around 21.5 percent, according to City Limits.

Goldfein says the moves were implemented “hastily,” and doesn’t hesitate to point a finger. “There was only one person who was in a hurry here, and it’s the mayor. I think he wanted to have a parade, and he wanted to say that it’s over, and he wanted to get people out of the hotels, because — as you saw on the Upper West Side — a lot of people are calling City Hall and complaining.”

The pause in the moves came too late for the men staying at The Lucerne and The Belnord Hotel, who were transferred back to congregate shelters last week. The men and women in the Hotel Belleclaire, on West 77th Street and Broadway, have not yet been moved, and Goldfein says, “the schedule is up in the air right now.”

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dc
dc
3 years ago

Just about anyone who wants a vaccine now can get one easily. The fact that an estimate 21.5% of the homeless are not suggests that an effort must be made to get people vaccinated, so that the transfer to shelters can continue unabated.

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Dana Love Taylor
Dana Love Taylor
3 years ago
Reply to  dc

Look people… Estimate….Key word
I am homeless and not by choice! I have no addiction but I am totally meant ally screwed up by life and your asshat opinions are just that!
Be part of the solution or your part of the problem!

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Debbie
Debbie
3 years ago
Reply to  dc

It’s actually worse; only 21.5% ARE vaccinated.

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dc
dc
3 years ago
Reply to  Debbie

Oops, yes only 21.5% are.

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Frank Grimes
Frank Grimes
3 years ago
Reply to  dc

This article states that 21.5% ARE vaccinated. An estimated 80% of homeless population is not vaccinated. I can’t wrap my mind about why this is OK, and how this is holding up the transfer. As you mentioned, at this point it is everyones choice, and they shouldn’t be able to hold the citys’ plan hostage for choosing not to get the vaccine. AS much as I dislike the Mayor, he is simply following the plan that has been in place for over a year and was agreed on by multiple courts. Funds for this program are running out, and the city plan is to return to some semblance of normal.

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Ellen Benoit
Ellen Benoit
3 years ago
Reply to  Frank Grimes

My question is, WHY does the city pay $9,000 per month per person?

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AC
AC
3 years ago
Reply to  dc

DC, if you are a homeless person living in a hotel room that the city is paying $9000 per month for, why would you get your vaccine and remove all excuses for them to move you out? It’s a very nice free ride. Milk it as long as you can. That would be the logical course of action

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Swati
Swati
3 years ago
Reply to  dc

since vaccines are no longer in short supply, there is no good reason for people not to be vaccinated!

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Wijmlet
Wijmlet
3 years ago
Reply to  dc

well said

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Frankie
Frankie
3 years ago

Just because someone is disabled does not mean that they lack the ability to make decisions for themselves. Usually, the opposite is the case. Likewise, the homeless. So if only a small percentage of people in these two categories have been vaccinated, it is not the city’s role to require them to be vaccinated or to act like a parent, infantilize them and arrange it. Those that are sentient adults make their own decisions — and certainly, some of them have health issues which might make the vaccine unsuitable. Thus they have made their decisions and they will bear the consequences pro and con.

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robert
robert
3 years ago

Here is an idea get them fully C19 vaccinated and then the closeness point in moot

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Newcavendish
Newcavendish
3 years ago

So, more Bleak House. The appetite of Legal Aid and such groups for this nonsensical but costly litigation is insatiable. These people are wards of the city and the city, which pays for their upkeep, should be able to make all relevant decisions without interference. It is hard to imagine how they could not have been vaccinated by now, given the campaigns for vaccination, unless they have refused it. Refusal should disqualify them from further support. If there is some genuine legal issue about how it discharges its duty to maintain them, that should be sorted out in due course, without endlessly stopping administrative decisions and unending litigation.

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Aiveigh
Aiveigh
3 years ago

I unfortunately I have lived at one of the women’s hotelvin Brooklyn for 4 months while others have been here for about a year and we are being transferred back to a congregate shelter in Brooklyn. I have been able to get a lot done since we have access to internet and ability to charge our phones and laptops. At the actual shelter our phones are taken away by staff for plugging them in. How are we to accomplish anything when DHS make rules that block us from doing anything. We have to deal with other clients who are unsanitary, violent and we have problems of our own. We have trans men who attack us, our safety means nothing. At least at the hotel we can do our job searches, keep up with our grooming and try getting our lives together. For many like myself we are so very thankful and grateful for being allowed to be here. People at our shelter have had Covid and gave it to others, some have died, many of us who are healthy and well consider ourselves blessed. Not all of us can take the vaccine. I am concerned about the health of others and my own as well. I’m not going to allow it to take over my life. Getting out of the shelter system is my #1 priority. And I Will.

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Dani
Dani
3 years ago
Reply to  Aiveigh

Aiveigh: I hope things turn around for you soon.

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Lisa
Lisa
3 years ago
Reply to  Aiveigh

Good for you Alveigh. You sound like you have the grit and determination to make it. I am sorry the shelter system does not have the wifi that the hotels do. It should. I don’t understand why residents who cause problems are allowed to reside in the same shelter as those (like you) who are trying to make it. Attacks and misbehavior should result in removal to a different shelter location that is more heavily supervised. You go girl.

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Tim
Tim
3 years ago

Yes, anyone can get the vaccinations now. The move to the Lucerne and other hotels, such as the Bellclaire, was supposed to be a TEMPORARY solution to the spreading of Covid before vaccines. And, if this really was such a big concern, why wasn’t it a requirement from the beginning for the residence, when they were first moved into these hotels, to have to wear masks on the streets when congregating in large groups? That would not have been too much to ask to help keep everyone safe.
Now it seems that the move is to try to very sneakily turn these hotels into permanent shelters. Just saying!

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UpperWest
UpperWest
3 years ago

The city had a mobile vaccination site across the street from the Belleclaire at the church for several days. Across the street. The group getting paid a fortune to run the shelter, of course, had ample opportunity to vaccinate people.

If adults with ample opportunity elect to not get vaccinated, shrug. I can’t see how that’s the city’s problem. Adults who make choices should accept consequences.

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UpperWest
UpperWest
3 years ago
Reply to  UpperWest

Perhaps worth noting we’ve created a system rife with conflicts of interest and incentives for the homeless hotel operators to NOT vaccinate (since that would mean less time to provide their services and collect revenue) and the homeless themselves, lest vaccination were to mean a return to a normal shelter. Is anyone surprise rates are low? And if these sorts of decisions can be made, sure the decision not to vaccinate ought to be seen as just that, a choice. Adults.

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S
S
3 years ago

As always the sad reality is that the homeless are not the “customer” of the system but rather the “product” to be monetized by the system. The shameful cabal is obvious to any thinking person.

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Reply
blacklikeu
blacklikeu
3 years ago

Move them to Gracie Mansion.
Lots of rooms.
Only two occupants.

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Reply
JaniceJay
JaniceJay
3 years ago
Reply to  blacklikeu

I defy any of you lucky people to let a stranger storm into your bedroom and give you 2 bags to fill and 2 hours to do it…not being told where you’ll go. Issue is the DISABLED who have medical issues : walkers,wheelchairs,scooters,aides!
Mayor FORGOT US!!!’Where do we go?

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Faraji
Faraji
3 years ago

Leave homeless people alone give them housing okay they have rights okay

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Reply
Katherine
Katherine
3 years ago
Reply to  Faraji

Living in a luxury boutique hotel on the taxpayer’s dime is not a human right.

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Homeless New Yorker
Homeless New Yorker
3 years ago

I don’t know of any “new lawsuit”. This is a motion in an existing case, Butler v. City of New York. The City promised in the settlement not to transfer disabled homeless clients into shelters that don’t accommodate their disabilities – just what it’s doing wholesale now.

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Jan
Jan
3 years ago

We have been/are in a pandemic!
There is no choice here! Vax should be
mandatory! City get with it!
And how is it possible mentally and physically ill
people
can make a correct choice?
Duh?

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Jane
Jane
3 years ago

Back to basics. If these people have mental and physical challenges they shouldn’t be in hotels. They need services which are certainly not provided in these hotels.
Hopefully they will be transferred to facilities where appropriate care can be provided.
The city should also investigate if this population are from m New York. When I’ve spoken to some of the homeless they are not from here but are pretty savvy about the system.
There are 5 boroughs with cheaper real estate that could provide more services for less $$. The city is close to bankruptcy. Where is some creative thinking?

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Jervis Bowles
Jervis Bowles
3 years ago

What about those who were ALREADY moved out? They should be compisated in the amount, Of the hotel, For each day, They weren’t allowed to stay in the hotels, And others, Were.

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Yosie
Yosie
3 years ago
Reply to  Jervis Bowles

I am confused Jervis. You want the homeless that were removed from a hotel room that they paid $0.00 for to be compensated? Who will compensate the tax payers, like myself, that pay for these hotel rooms. You want room service with that?

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Reply
ben
ben
3 years ago

The city needs to just send vaccine doses and nurses to the homeless hotels to maximize vaccination rate and stop it from being continuously used as an excuse.

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Reply
chrigid
chrigid
3 years ago

do we know for sure that no social services have been provided by anyone in these hotels?

do we know for sure that dormitory-style shelters have better services?

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Reply
Roze
Roze
3 years ago

You’re missing the point! We live in America where no one should be homeless or told simply because they are financially poor, they must be vaccinated. Masks should have been mandated. But oh yeah, it’s YOUR body, unless you’re a pregnant woman and then well, I guess it’s the government’s body all of a sudden.

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Reply
B.B.
B.B.
3 years ago

They’re never going to get homeless out of those hotels.

If and or when such an event ever occurs again in future it’s going to be a cold day in Hades before hotels sign up en masse again for this sort of scheme, and or local residents allow it to slip in under their radar.

But wise people saw this coming long ago. Nothing is ever temporary with NYS/NYC government. Once a thing is created it *NEVER* goes away.

City has been using hotels to house homeless in one way or another > 40 years as a “temporary” solution.

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Kevin F
Kevin F
3 years ago

The Mayor could care less about the homeless. No photo opp? The city violated the decree set by the courts. Don’t forget Steven Banks! Unfortunately COVID will run rampant through the shelter system! Pretty much the city has no clue who has been vaccinated. Elected officials, Cuomo what now? Money over protecting lives?

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UWS Craig
UWS Craig
3 years ago

The vaccine statistics don’t make sense. It is primarily Republicans who aren’t getting vaccinated; I am surprised how many of our homeless are Republicans.

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Fwmyeej
Fwmyeej
3 years ago

Gave a person a fish and he or she will be back for more. Teach a person how to work for the fish then they come up with excuse after excuse whatever… I been homeless for 3 years and now finally got my own place with my own two hands working hard, saving hard, no excuse. I broke the chains ⛓️ of being homeless since 12/13/2019 till now, if I can get it done so can the next person too…. NO EXCUSE AT ALL… Be safe and be bless everyone 🙏…

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Nevets K
Nevets K
3 years ago

Does the WSR consistently quote people in “a phonetic style,” as you seem to have done with Mr. Lucas, as in “‘Cause we goin’ back into the shelter”? Or is this just a half-baked and highly prejudiced attempt at “authenticity”?
I did notice that further on in Mr. Lucas’s remarks, he (meaning your reporter) had no problem with putting the “g” on the word “holding,” and I also noticed – no surprise, right? – that Mr. Goldfein of Legal Aid, perhaps more of a peer than Mr. Lucas to your reporter – seems to have pronounced ever letter of absolutely every word he spoke – no dropped letters and no “authentic” apostrophes.
So what is going on here, folks?
Perhaps something the WSR should consider.

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Frankie
Frankie
3 years ago

Disabled people and homeless people are adults who make their own decisions, some good some bad, just like everyone else. They have agency, and just because they are homeless or disabled, they are not to be treated like children. The city is not their parent and is not entitled or authorized to make their healthcare decisions for them. Maybe some of them are immune compromised and feel getting vaccinated is a threat to their wellbeing. Or maybe not. Either way, they bear the consequences as they should. That might include being moved to a homeless shelter since I don’t think they can hold the city hostage to keeping them in a hotel if they decline to be vaccinated.

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Carl Lewis
Carl Lewis
3 years ago

I don’t think that is smart going backwards. Going back to shelters.

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nemo paradise
nemo paradise
3 years ago

Like masks, it was supposed to be “temporary.” We never learn.

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Reply
Jeff
Jeff
3 years ago

How can anyone say this mayor couldn’t care less about the homeless? He arranged to have them moved to HOTELS because the spread of Covid had become dangerous in the shelters, and the hotels we’re basically empty. Made perfect sense, and also showed concern for their well-being. Now,conditions have changed and it’s time to end this program. So that’s what he’s doing. I don’t get the piling on BDB.

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Katherine
Katherine
3 years ago
Reply to  Jeff

It’s interesting that de Blasio moved them into certain hotels, though. Also interesting how some owners like the Lucerne’s Sam Domb were big de Blasio donors. Domb got a ton of money for turning the Lucerne into a $300-per-night hotel for a year. Endless government (i.e. taxpayer) money.

But sure, de Blasio did it because he just cares so much.

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Janice Jacome
Janice Jacome
3 years ago

How could the mayor have simply forgotten us apparently disabled people? There was MORE than ample time AND $$$ to work out something adequate. I’m a 60 yr old Grandmother,disabled ,in a Midtown hotel. DISGRACEFUL to stomp on our rights,then give us 2hours to PACK UP..not to be told WHERE.MOST organizations are BOGUS.Would LOVE to tell my nightmarish odyssey!!!

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Reply
Nancy
Nancy
3 years ago

Why would the city spend $9000/PP to live in a hotel on the UWS?

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Reply
LYJ
LYJ
3 years ago

All these Legal Aid and such are just opportunistic unproductive filing frivolous baseless legal actions to justify their own existence. I cannot afford my rent and would love the city to place me in a luxury hotel, preferably the Four Seasons on tax payers account.

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Ian Alterman
Ian Alterman
3 years ago

Yes, the plan to place the homeless in hotels was to be temporary – UNTIL THE CONGREGATES SHELTERS WERE SAFE TO RETURN TO. It was never just about the availability of vaccines. You are still placing people in extremely close quarters, where diseases can and do spread rapidly. And even if a higher percentage of homeless people were vaccinated, variants like the Delta could easily still spread in congregate shelters where people are crammed in. The promise made by BdB (not that he ever keeps his promises) was that they would be moved back to the congregate shelters ONLY when it was safe to do so (and in a legal manner, vis-a-vis the disabled, etc.). It is NOT safe yet, and people with disabilities are being treated like cattle, without concern for those disabilities.

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Reply

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