- The Belleclaire, the Lucerne and the Belnord in the UWS are three of 139 hotels being used as homeless shelters during the Covid-19 crisis in New York City
- The city is paying $175 per person per night to house people to avoid COVID-19 outbreaks in shelters
- It’s unclear how long they will be kept there; none of the hotels are accepting paying guests currently
- Upper West Side residents say they are terrorizing the neighborhood with drugs and crime
- They are complaining that they don’t feel safe and local restaurant owners fear they are driving away business
- The only way for restaurants to make money is by offering outdoor dining but the owners say the homeless are approaching diners to ask for cash
- It coincides with a mass exodus of wealthy New Yorkers, many of whom will never come back to the city
- Mayor Bill de Blasio has turned on them, calling them ‘fair weather friends’ who ought to be taxed higher
- Governor Andrew Cuomo is begging them to come back and says the city desperately needs their money
Hundreds of homeless people who have been put up in luxury hotels on Manhattan’s Upper West Side by the city as part of its efforts to prevent COVID-19 outbreaks in shelters are terrifying residents by urinating, sleeping and taking drugs in the streets.
In July, it emerged that 139 of the city’s iconic hotels – which had been forced closed for months – had agreed to take in homeless people for $175 per person, per night as part of a scheme by the city to try to avoid a breakout of COVID-19 in homeless shelters.
The city has not released a list of the hotels but a source told The New York Post the scheme will run until October.
Among the hotels on the list are The Belleclaire, The Lucerne and The Belnord on the Upper West Side.
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