Westside Rag: ‘Homeless Hotels’ Booked by City for Another Six Months; ‘Shelters Not Yet Safe’; ‘Lucerne Men Will Move’
By Carol Tannenhauser
October 7, 2020
The contract between the City and the Hotel Association of New York City (HANYC), which has resulted in 139 hotels providing rooms to 10,000 single homeless people, runs out on October 12th. But it will be extended for six months, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) told WSR on Wednesday morning.
The reason for the extension is that the city in consultation with the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) has deemed it is not yet safe to send these individuals back to congregate shelters. Those shelters have dormitory-style sleeping and eating arrangements, and social distancing is impossible, DHS says. They sent the following statement:
Our COVID Hotels contract expires next week. As a result, we will need to extend our contract with HANYC to ensure we are able to provide this vital, life-saving protection and resource to our clients as we work with DOHMH on when and how it will be safe to phase out the COVID hotels and return to congregate shelters for single adults
While precise terms of the contract extension are still being finalized, the extension will be for six months – AND we can cancel it whenever we are ready too, such as if/when we are able to end the use of specific commercial hotel relocation sites or end the use of commercial hotel temporary relocation sites writ large.
As we’ve said, our actions will be guided by the science and data in determining when it is safe to return to congregate shelters, including closely monitoring health indicators with health experts at the New York City Health Department and evaluating how to most effectively prioritize temporary relocation commercial hotels for phaseout/moveout at the point where Health experts say it is safe to do so. Again: we intend to follow the science and the data every step of the way – and that includes: if we are able to relocate individuals out of commercial hotel settings to alternative safe settings sooner, we may do so.
“The president and CEO of the Hotel Association, Vijay Dandapani, also said he ‘fully expects’ the contract will be extended,” Gothamist reported. “He noted the arrangement benefits his members as well as people experiencing homelessness, since hotels have otherwise remained largely empty during the pandemic. ‘It’s a really good agreement for the city and obviously for the hotel owners because there’s zero business, or close to zero business in terms of tourism or business travel,’” he said.
There are four hotels on the Upper West Side currently housing individuals without homes: Hotel Belleclaire, on West 77th and Broadway, The Lucerne, on West 79th and Amsterdam, The Belnord Hotel, on West 87th between Amsterdam and Broadway, and The Park West Hotel, on Central Park West, between 106th and 107th Streets.
As of now, it is uncertain whether the men of The Lucerne will be heading downtown to a Radisson Hotel, which is being converted to a shelter in the Financial District.
Update: According to Isaac McGinn, DHS spokesperson, “It is certain that the men (of The Lucerne) will move downtown….This planned move will take place in October – we are looking to mid-October for the move, as we ensure the Wall Street area location is ready for occupancy and fully prepared to receive these clients.” More details to follow.