Major Bill de Blasio
A coalition of New York legal and advocacy groups called on a judge Thursday to review the government’s plans Major Bill de Blasio (D) move some members of the city’s homeless population out of hotel rooms and into “community shelters.”
“The group members of the lawsuit all have disabilities and / or serious health problems that put them at greater risk of serious consequences if they contract COVID-19,” the groups to which the Legal Aid Society and the law firm Jenner & Block, it says in a joint press release. “The city’s decision to put them in hotel rooms allowed them safe social distance, which literally saved lives. Apart from COVID-19, the hotel rooms also provided necessary accommodation for many people with disabilities. “
The groups alleged that the mayor and the city were “circumventing” legal obligations backed up by a broader litigation strategy called Butler Vs. City of New York. Those commitments, the groups said, required officials to “reflect individually on the nature of the disability and the potential impact of placing each person in” overcrowded “shelters.
“Instead, the city is moving class members in a rushed process that endangers many of them,” the press release said. “[M]Each of these New Yorkers at high risk of serious consequences from COVID-19 live in a confined space with a relatively unvaccinated population, which, despite the city’s progress in reducing the incidence of COVID-19, puts the risk of a new super-spreader at risk holds event. “
The litigation seeks, among other things, a restraining order and an injunction to stop the movements. These transfers should go back to at least June 22nd and should have affected at least 650 people. About 8,000 people were threatened with being relocated “in a few weeks,” according to court files the groups filed with the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Both the legal filing and the press release document a number of case studies.
A homeless person “who uses a wheelchair and needs a joint replacement in his right knee” was moved from a so-called “sealing hotel” (read: not overcrowded) to “community accommodation without barrier-free showers or toilets”.
Another “has autoimmune disease (fibromyalgia), brainstem encephalomyelitis, and chronic musculoskeletal pain, and needs a single room on the ground floor or access to an elevator because she cannot use or walk stairs for long periods of time.” recently had heart surgery and suffered regular, tiny strokes ”. Still, she was moved to “multiple shelters” without any statutory warnings; she “missed two doctor’s appointments, which made her distress worse,” the documents say.
Another person – who allegedly needed special medical equipment to treat sleep apnea – was withdrawn from one hotel without written notice or explanation and sent to another hotel where the staff did not know they were expected and had no rooms available for him remains. He ended up in a shelter “with fresh urine on the floor, a urine-stained mattress, and no air conditioning or ventilation, which made his sleep apnea worse.”
The individual case studies continue. The right-wing groups also accuse the city of discriminating against certain types of disability, namely “psychological diagnoses”, on behalf of the homeless.
“The city’s rash decision to arbitrarily move thousands of homeless New Yorkers from safe shelters back to local, overcrowded shelters is both illegal and inhuman,” said Josh Goldfein, Attorney with the Civil Law Reform Division of the Legal Aid Society. “Under Butler” [the underlying litigation], the city has a duty to conduct a thorough investigation of any homeless New Yorker seeking adequate housing and those New Yorkers the city knows have a disability, health problem, or other problem. These transfers have completely ignored this process and we ask the court to prohibit the city from making such transfers until each homeless person has been screened and accommodation has been made available to suit their needs. “
“The program to place homeless New Yorkers in hotel rooms at the height of the pandemic saved lives. It continues to serve as essential housing for people with disabilities as defined by the ADA and for those at increased risk for COVID-19, ”said Jenner & Block Partner Dawn Smalls. “If rates fall in the city, the city can phase out and reduce the hotel program – but not without ensuring that its obligations, according to Butler, to make an appropriate announcement and to consider the needs of each resident of a shelter are met. We filed this lawsuit to make sure they do. “
“The pandemic is not over yet, especially for our customers, many of whom have disabilities and medical conditions that put them at significant risk of serious complications or death should they contract the virus that causes COVID-19,” said Deborah B. Diamond, Esq. the Coalition for the Homeless. “As the court-appointed monitor of New York’s single adult housing system, the Coalition for the Homeless witnesses the city’s egregious violations of the Butler-City of New York settlement, which obliges DHS to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and ensure that, on a daily basis DHS facilities and services are accessible to all, regardless of disability status. To meet an arbitrary deadline set by an unpopular mayor trying to save face, the DHS repeatedly and tragically fails to meet the needs of our disabled and medically vulnerable customers. The DHS must temporarily suspend these steps and correct the course before homeless New Yorkers suffer even more damage from the commissioned City Agency to assist them. “
“These hotel evictions are cruel, dangerous, illegal and racist,” said, ” Helen Strom of the city justice center. “It is predominantly black and brown New Yorkers who are randomly thrown out of hotels that are usually in white neighborhoods and tourist centers and sent to insecure accommodations with more than a dozen people in one room. Department of Homeless Services contractors advancing DHS mandates have used misinformation, coercion and intimidation to drive people out of hotels. We routinely speak to people who are scared and in a mental crisis due to this ubiquitous chaotic process. Some people are returning to the streets. There are alternatives. First, in the interests of the safety of thousands of people in DHS hotels, the city must immediately suspend all transfers. Second, they need to implement a contingency plan to move people from hotels to permanent accommodation. This can be accomplished by enacting an emergency rule to implement Intro 146 and increase CityFHEPS voucher amounts by using available Section 8 vouchers allocated through the American Rescue Plan and utilizing any vacant HPD homes .
“The city is putting the lives of people with disabilities at higher risk of COVID-19 at risk by vigorously dumping them in shelters that are not safe and where their disabled needs are ignored,” said Susan Dooha, Managing Director of the Center for the Independence of the Disabled.
A spokesman for the New York Legal Department did not immediately respond to the lawsuit when contacted for comment in the New York Daily News.
De Blasio said in mid-June that the moves could be carried out by about 8,000 people as novel coronavirus numbers plummet in New York City, according to the New York Times reported.
“It is time to bring homeless people who have been temporarily in hotels back to emergency shelters where they can get the support they need,” said the mayor on June 26th.
Read the litigation below:
[image via Drew Angerer/Getty Images]
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