Homeless could get more hotels as de Blasio vows to get rid of them
The city could be using hotel rooms to house the homeless for another nine years under a new proposal, despite Mayor de Blasio’s stated goal of changing that policy “as quickly as possible.”
The Department of Homeless Services, facing a record homeless population of nearly 60,000 across the city, posted a request last month for vendors that could supply “emergency shelter social services in commercial hotels.”
The mayor announced in February that the city intended to phase out the hotels after a homeless woman and her two children were stabbed to death at a Staten Island motel where they had been placed by the city.
“The goal is to use hotels less and less and eventually stop using hotels altogether,” de Blasio said at the time.
But the department’s solicitation for bids notes that the resulting contract would be “anticipated” to last between three and nine years.
From Nov. 1, 2015, to Oct. 31, 2016, the department made 425,000 hotel-room bookings at a cost of more than $72.9 million, according to city Comptroller Scott Stringer.
With the homeless population growing, the city actually expanded the use of the hotels.
City officials said the department’s contract would last three years with two renewals, which is the standard in social services.
“We are committed to phasing out the use of hotels. Right now, they’re necessary alternatives to shelter space we don’t have,” said de Blasio spokeswoman Aja Worthy-Davis.
“These contracts are standard in length, can be canceled, and will allow us to save money and avoid price spikes.”
But critics said the extended time frame is evidence that “homeless” hotels will be around for years.
Anthony Nunziato, a Republican district leader from Maspeth, Queens, who is running for state Assembly, claimed de Blasio was “talking out both sides of his mouth.”
“He’s really just trying to kick the can down the road,” Nunziato said. “He really has no answers.”
State Sen. Tony Avella, a Queens Democrat running against de Blasio, questioned the time frame.
“This is an acknowledgment from him that he can’t solve the problem,” he said.
“So he’s going to extend this into the future well beyond when he’s mayor so no one can blame [him].”