Posted on Jul 11th 2021 at 9:07 am by Carol Tannenhauser
Nobody has moved from the Hotel Belleclaire yet.
By Carol Tannenhauser
The city has stopped moving homeless people back to collective shelters from the commercial hotels they stayed in during the pandemic a movement The legal Aid Society’s case will be decided in court this Tuesday, according to Joshua Goldfein, a Legal Aid employee.
Meeting rooms typically accommodate 10-20 people in one room, noisy The New York Times.
The transfers started this month. Legal assistance claims the way they were conducted “violated a standing court order requiring the city to accommodate people’s disabilities in the shelters,” Goldfein said. “Around two thirds of single adults in the animal shelter system have a disability that should be taken into account when accommodating. It’s not about keeping the hotels open forever. It just means the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) has to go back and review the cases and make sure people are placed in environments that are convenient for them. “
Isaac McGinn, a spokesman for DHS, said 23 of more than 60 hotels had already been vacated. “We will review the specific allegations and related cases referred to in the lawsuit,” he said in an email. “Nevertheless, we have developed a comprehensive process of adequate accommodation that was agreed in a court settlement and notify providers and customers in advance before moving – including in May – so that customers can work with providers to request accommodation if necessary.”
Brian Lucas was not allowed to stay for some reason. “I feel guilty about moving,” he said as he was about to get on a bus in front of the Lucerne, last week. “Because we’re going back to the shelter. We’ll be right next to the people. I’ve been here for a year and don’t have my apartment. I am disabled. I cant work. I don’t really know what it will hold up. “
Around 8,000 people were relocated to hotels across the city at the start of the lockdown in spring 2020 to protect them from the coronavirus and avert possible super-spreader situations. When the CDC lifted COVID restrictions a month ago, the mayor announced, “It is time to bring homeless people who have been temporarily in hotels back to accommodations where they can get the support they need . “
Homeless and advocates say it’s premature to realize the delta variant is emerging and that the percentage of homeless vaccinated is unknown but is estimated to be low at around 21.5 percent City limits.
Goldfein says the moves were implemented “prematurely” and does not hesitate to point a finger. “There was only one person here who was in a hurry and that was the mayor. I think he wanted to do a parade and he wanted to say it was 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 moving break came too late for the men at The Lucerne and The Belnord Hotel, who were brought back to shared accommodation last week. The men and women at the Belleclaire Hotel on West 77th Street and Broadway haven’t moved yet, and Goldfein says, “The schedule is in the air right now.”
