- 139 of New York City’s 700 hotels are being used by the city to house homeless people who they removed from shelters to avoid COVID-19 outbreaks
- The Lucerne, Belnord and Belleclaire on the Upper West Side and the Rixby, SpringHill Suites, DoubleTree, Best Western and Hampton Inn in the Garment District are among them
- The city is refusing to release a full list of the hotels and they won’t give details on how much it is costing
- A source close to the initiative previously said it was costing $175 per person, per night
- With 13,000 homeless people currently being looked after, the cost is more than $2million per night
- Residents on the Upper West Side are fleeing because, they say, it is bringing more crime to the area
Nearly 20 percent of New York City‘s hotels are being used to shelter the homeless in a widely criticized initiative that some say will ‘bankrupt’ the city and drive its wealthy residents out for good.
Since the start of the pandemic, 13,000 homeless people have been moved out of shelters and into hotels around the city. Currently, 139 of the city’s 700-odd hotels are being used.
De Blasio is paying the hotels $175 per person per night, according to sources who are familiar with the scheme, which puts the cost at more than $2million a night.
The city is refusing to release a list of the hotels being used and the hotels themselves are also reluctant to identify themselves for fear that it may put off future guests. So far, nine have been identified.
They are The Lucerne, Belnord and Belleclaire on the Upper West Side – where residents have fled in fear because of the escalating crime – and the Rixby, SpringHill Suites, DoubleTree, Best Western, Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton Inn in the Garment District.
‘(This) will eventually bankrupt the city. With more and more people fleeing the city because of the homeless problem and defunding the police where they don’t feel safe, the city will not have the funds to sustain this.