NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – Thousands of people who were moved from homeless shelters to hotels amid the coronavirus pandemic will be relocated back to shelters, hopefully by the end of July, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday.
As the pandemic worsened last spring, the city took emergency action to move people out of shelters and into empty hotel rooms for their health and safety. The initiative proved controversial in a number of neighborhoods, including on the Upper West Side, where residents complained about quality-of-life issues outside the The Lucerne Hotel.
De Blasio said now that the state has lifted most coronavirus-related restrictions, the city should begin moving people back to shelters, where they can more easily access resources.
"It is time to move homeless folks who were in hotels for a temporary period of time back to shelters, where they can get the support they need," de Blasio said at a briefing Wednesday.
The mayor said the city was starting the process of moving 8,000 New Yorkers who are now in some 60 hotels across the city back to shelter settings.
De Blasio said "everything's ready to go" but that the state has yet to authorize a request by the city Department of Social Services, made on May 18, to return residents to permanent shelter locations.
"We know exactly which shelters we are going to be bringing people back to. They are being prepared. We are ready to go. What we need is authorization from the state of New York," de Blasio said.
"Once we get that sign off, we can start immediately moving people to shelters and getting back to that work of moving them forward in their lives," the mayor said. "We will be able to complete this by approximately the end of July."
