Confronting Surge in Homelessness, New York City Expands Use of Hotels
By WILLIAM NEUMAN
New York Times
DEC. 7, 2016
City officials have said that about 12 percent of the total homeless population is now being housed in hotel rooms, such as the ones at a Holiday Inn in Rosedale, Queens. Credit Christian Hansen for The New York Times
Facing a continued surge in the homeless population, New York City officials are aggressively expanding the costly and highly criticized practice of using hotels to plug gaps in the city’s strained shelter system.
The increase has been stark: About 12 percent of the total homeless population is now being housed in hotel rooms, compared with just 4 percent in January.
On Jan. 1, the city was using 508 hotel rooms for homeless families with children, comprising 1,237 people, according to the Department of Homeless Services. On Nov. 30, 2,418 rooms were being rented for families with children, amounting to 5,798 people.
Now, the city plans to expand its hotel portfolio for homeless families by up to 436 rooms, with 225 of them reserved for families without minor children — the first time the city has earmarked hotel rooms for such families, officials said. The city also plans to add 100 or more hotel rooms for homeless individuals.
The expansion comes as the city has struggled to address a record homeless population — an issue that could become an obstacle in Mayor Bill de Blasio’s bid for re-election next year.
“Look, I own it,” Mr. de Blasio said Wednesday on WNYC radio, referring to the surge in the homeless population. “We’re arresting that growth and starting to turn it, and I think we’ll be able to show some real progress soon.”
He listed some initiatives begun by his administration, including legal assistance to help renters fight eviction. “We’re going to come up with a much more comprehensive vision on homelessness in the coming months, but I can tell you that a lot of these initiatives are taking hold.”
But the increased reliance on hotels goes against Mr. de Blasio’s vow to curtail the practice. In February, a homeless woman and two of her children were fatally stabbed in a Staten Island hotel where the city had placed them because it did not have room in a shelter.
“The goal is to use hotels less and less and eventually stop using hotels altogether,” the mayor said on the day of the killings, acknowledging that there might be times when the city, which is required to provide shelter to the homeless, would have to resort to hotels as a stopgap. “But what I’m saying is the goal in the short term is to reduce the use of hotels intensely.”
Using hotel rooms is far more costly than alternatives, and advocates for the homeless say it poorly serves the needs of families: There are typically no kitchens and little privacy; the hotels may not be close to schools; and it can be more difficult to provide people with the services they need.
The city’s embrace of using budget hotels to house the homeless has become a flash point this year; civic groups in Queens used lawsuits and boisterous protests — including one in front of the home of Steven Banks, the commissioner of homeless services — to fight the city’s plan to convert a hotel into a homeless shelter in Maspeth. The city withdrew the plan, but then rented rooms there to house 30 homeless men at the standard rate of $160 a night.
The city declared its intention to increase hotel use in a series of letters seeking approval for emergency spending sent to the city comptroller, Scott M. Stringer, and the corporation counsel, Zachary W. Carter, whose offices supervise contracts.
In a response this week, Mr. Stringer approved the request but said he had “deep misgivings” about the city’s approach, citing examples of how hotels are considered inadequate substitutes for other forms of shelter.
“They want a dramatic increase of placing people in commercial hotels, and they said they weren’t going to do it,” Mr. Stringer said. “It’s just troubling, the lack of transparency in this process.”
The city this week reported a record number of people in homeless shelters, with 60,686 in various types of shelters, including hotels. Nearly 40 percent of them are children.
When Mr. de Blasio became mayor in January 2014, the shelter population was 51,470.
With the shelter system strained to its limit, the city has turned to budget hotels.
According to David Neustadt, a spokesman for homeless services, the number of hotel rooms has increased in part as the city has sought to phase out another type of homeless housing, known as cluster housing. In that type of housing, nonprofit groups under contract with the city rent out apartments, often several in a building, as temporary shelter for homeless families.
Cluster housing is considered problematic because it takes affordable apartments off the market and, since the apartments are scattered, it can be difficult to get adequate services to families. On Wednesday, two young girls whose family was placed by the city in a cluster apartment died, apparently after being burned by steam from a radiator.
Mr. Neustadt said the city was seeking authorization to use more hotel rooms as winter approached, a time when more people typically seek shelter. He added that the issue highlighted the need to build more shelters.
But the hotels are far more expensive than other types of shelter arranged by the city. In a letter to Mr. Banks, the comptroller’s office said that on average, putting up a family in a hotel costs $6,570 a month, compared with $2,740 for a cluster apartment. In both cases, the costs include the amount the contractor charges to provide services to the family.
The city has also used hotel rooms for homeless individuals, although it accounts for them differently, since it often has individuals double up in a room. On Jan. 1, the city had capacity for 1,255 beds for “single” adults; at roughly two to a room, that represented about 628 hotel rooms, with 1,212 people staying in them. On Nov. 30, there were 1,567 beds, with 1,491 “singles” being lodged in hotels. The Department of Homeless Services said it was now seeking capacity for 235 additional beds — or roughly 118 more hotel rooms.
A spokeswoman for the mayor, Aja Worthy-Davis, said in a statement on Wednesday: “There’s no doubt that hotels are not ideal for homeless New Yorkers, but until we get citywide acceptance that more shelters are needed, hotels remain the only short-term option for keeping many New Yorkers off the streets.”
New York Times
DEC. 7, 2016
City officials have said that about 12 percent of the total homeless population is now being housed in hotel rooms, such as the ones at a Holiday Inn in Rosedale, Queens. Credit Christian Hansen for The New York Times
Facing a continued surge in the homeless population, New York City officials are aggressively expanding the costly and highly criticized practice of using hotels to plug gaps in the city’s strained shelter system.
The increase has been stark: About 12 percent of the total homeless population is now being housed in hotel rooms, compared with just 4 percent in January.
On Jan. 1, the city was using 508 hotel rooms for homeless families with children, comprising 1,237 people, according to the Department of Homeless Services. On Nov. 30, 2,418 rooms were being rented for families with children, amounting to 5,798 people.
Now, the city plans to expand its hotel portfolio for homeless families by up to 436 rooms, with 225 of them reserved for families without minor children — the first time the city has earmarked hotel rooms for such families, officials said. The city also plans to add 100 or more hotel rooms for homeless individuals.
The expansion comes as the city has struggled to address a record homeless population — an issue that could become an obstacle in Mayor Bill de Blasio’s bid for re-election next year.
“Look, I own it,” Mr. de Blasio said Wednesday on WNYC radio, referring to the surge in the homeless population. “We’re arresting that growth and starting to turn it, and I think we’ll be able to show some real progress soon.”
He listed some initiatives begun by his administration, including legal assistance to help renters fight eviction. “We’re going to come up with a much more comprehensive vision on homelessness in the coming months, but I can tell you that a lot of these initiatives are taking hold.”
But the increased reliance on hotels goes against Mr. de Blasio’s vow to curtail the practice. In February, a homeless woman and two of her children were fatally stabbed in a Staten Island hotel where the city had placed them because it did not have room in a shelter.
“The goal is to use hotels less and less and eventually stop using hotels altogether,” the mayor said on the day of the killings, acknowledging that there might be times when the city, which is required to provide shelter to the homeless, would have to resort to hotels as a stopgap. “But what I’m saying is the goal in the short term is to reduce the use of hotels intensely.”
Using hotel rooms is far more costly than alternatives, and advocates for the homeless say it poorly serves the needs of families: There are typically no kitchens and little privacy; the hotels may not be close to schools; and it can be more difficult to provide people with the services they need.
The city’s embrace of using budget hotels to house the homeless has become a flash point this year; civic groups in Queens used lawsuits and boisterous protests — including one in front of the home of Steven Banks, the commissioner of homeless services — to fight the city’s plan to convert a hotel into a homeless shelter in Maspeth. The city withdrew the plan, but then rented rooms there to house 30 homeless men at the standard rate of $160 a night.
The city declared its intention to increase hotel use in a series of letters seeking approval for emergency spending sent to the city comptroller, Scott M. Stringer, and the corporation counsel, Zachary W. Carter, whose offices supervise contracts.
In a response this week, Mr. Stringer approved the request but said he had “deep misgivings” about the city’s approach, citing examples of how hotels are considered inadequate substitutes for other forms of shelter.
“They want a dramatic increase of placing people in commercial hotels, and they said they weren’t going to do it,” Mr. Stringer said. “It’s just troubling, the lack of transparency in this process.”
The city this week reported a record number of people in homeless shelters, with 60,686 in various types of shelters, including hotels. Nearly 40 percent of them are children.
When Mr. de Blasio became mayor in January 2014, the shelter population was 51,470.
With the shelter system strained to its limit, the city has turned to budget hotels.
According to David Neustadt, a spokesman for homeless services, the number of hotel rooms has increased in part as the city has sought to phase out another type of homeless housing, known as cluster housing. In that type of housing, nonprofit groups under contract with the city rent out apartments, often several in a building, as temporary shelter for homeless families.
Cluster housing is considered problematic because it takes affordable apartments off the market and, since the apartments are scattered, it can be difficult to get adequate services to families. On Wednesday, two young girls whose family was placed by the city in a cluster apartment died, apparently after being burned by steam from a radiator.
Mr. Neustadt said the city was seeking authorization to use more hotel rooms as winter approached, a time when more people typically seek shelter. He added that the issue highlighted the need to build more shelters.
But the hotels are far more expensive than other types of shelter arranged by the city. In a letter to Mr. Banks, the comptroller’s office said that on average, putting up a family in a hotel costs $6,570 a month, compared with $2,740 for a cluster apartment. In both cases, the costs include the amount the contractor charges to provide services to the family.
The city has also used hotel rooms for homeless individuals, although it accounts for them differently, since it often has individuals double up in a room. On Jan. 1, the city had capacity for 1,255 beds for “single” adults; at roughly two to a room, that represented about 628 hotel rooms, with 1,212 people staying in them. On Nov. 30, there were 1,567 beds, with 1,491 “singles” being lodged in hotels. The Department of Homeless Services said it was now seeking capacity for 235 additional beds — or roughly 118 more hotel rooms.
A spokeswoman for the mayor, Aja Worthy-Davis, said in a statement on Wednesday: “There’s no doubt that hotels are not ideal for homeless New Yorkers, but until we get citywide acceptance that more shelters are needed, hotels remain the only short-term option for keeping many New Yorkers off the streets.”
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