Queens Residents See Little Value in Homeless Hotels
Morris leans his back against the wall in front of a 7–11 store on a rainy night in Forest Hills, with a black backpack full of clothes and living goods under his feet. He greets everyone with a moderate smile and receives cigarettes and food from passers-by.
After being kicked out from his apartment 10 months ago, Morris has been staying in local shelters. He says he used to live at an 800-people shelter in Queens, where the food was bad, the staff was mean, and people inside abused drugs. He said there was even a murder, which terrified him.
A few months ago, Morris transferred to a commercial hotel that houses homeless people in Jamaica, Queens; and he said it is an awesome experience. He lives in a single room, and the cleaning ladies come in every day to do housekeeping. “I have been to the worst and the best [shelter],” he said.
Morris is one of 11,000 homeless people who have benefited from staying in hotel rooms, which cost taxpayers approximately $222 a night, on average, compared with $150 a night in shelters. New York City has spent $364 million so far this year renting hotel rooms as shelters. According to the New York City Council Budget Explorer, the budget for hotels and shelters, including the cost of contractual services and community consultant, has reached about $2 million.
Another report, released by the Department of Homeless Services, shows a slight drop in the number of children living in shelters: 40,049 in 2018, compared to 39,200 during 2019. They are part of the 5473 households are living in hotels across the city as of August 2019.
This year, the homeless households staying at hotel shelters surged to record levels. While people like Morris enjoy living there, advocates say hotels are just a short-term solution. Brandon Cheney, the associate director of Gateway Housing, said that the hotels are not effective for homeless persons trying to get back on their feet.“I think the city will admit this: to use hotels for the homeless clients is not an ideal situation by any stretch,” Mr. Cheney said. “What’s better is a purpose-built shelter that has services for people who are homeless.” He also said hotels lack on-site services, such as kitchen and laundry facilities.
At a precinct council meeting at the end of October, Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi (D-Forest Hills) accused non-profits of profiting from the homeless crisis. He said the only way to reduce get the crisis down is to take people who were on public assistance and pay their rent in full. “The truth is the homeless crisis is intentionally being allowed to grow,” Assemblyman Hevesi said. “I believe the shelters themselves are a business. As long as the homeless crisis continues to grow, then those businesses are doing good.”
Assemblyman Hevesi explained that the city gives shelter contracts to take people into the facility. Then the shelters tell the homeless people to do cleaning or maintenance jobs if they want to stay, which benefits the nonprofit organizations. The nonprofits then contributed money back to the city by making campaign donations, thus creating a circulation.
Mayor de Blasio already has plans to stop using hotels and invest in permanent housing for the homeless. The Comfort Inn in Kew Gardens was phased out last February, and the working homeless at the Holiday Inn Express in Maspeth were removed in August. Meanwhile, two more shelters will open at Cooper Avenue in Glendale, and in Ridgewood in 2020. The homeless situation in adjacent neighborhoods in Queens seems to reflect some shared concerns in Forest Hills.
Diana Rachnaev, the founder of a local mental health nonprofit called Yesodot, said the homeless hotel is a great backup plan, but it is also only a temporary fix of the problem. “You’re helping them find a place to sleep, as opposed to on the streets. Yes. That will be more appealing to the eye,” said Ms. Rachnaev.
“We don’t have any homeless shelters [in the neighborhood],” said Patty Bugland, a 28-year-long resident in Forest Hills. “I know a lot of people would be upset about that, but forget the homeless shelter. We need affordable housing.”
Ms. Bugland said it is better to stabilize the homeless than to continue sending them to shelters, which would be no good other than getting them situated for only a couple of days.
Governor Andrew Cuomo has made a commitment to combating homelessness in New York State by building and preserving affordable and supportive housing, according to the Governor’s Office. Two years ago, he gave $1 billion in the budget to build the first 6,000 units of supportive housing, said Assemblyman Hevesi, but there are still 14,000 units left. He said the development is a little bit slower than anticipated, and he wants to push the governor to finish what has remained.
“It doesn’t mean we’re not gonna eventually stop the growth of the homeless crisis. It doesn’t mean we’re not going to get these supportive housing units filled. It’s just going to be a brutal, knockdown fight,” Assemblyman Hevesi said. “Until those things are done, I consider myself a part of the problem.”
Elna Tullock, a retired nurse, said she is worried that by building shelters and having more homeless coming in, the local crime rate will rise. However, the overall crime rate in Forest Hills is 62 percent lower than the national average, according to the web site Area Vibes. The neighborhood is safer than 87 percent of the cities in New York.
Ms. Tullock is not persuaded by such statistics. “[It is a] complete deterioration of the community,” said Ms. Tullock. “They [homeless people] are not going to stay in a specific area that is designated, they will be wandering all over the place.”
Mr. Cheney from Gateway Housing disagreed and said the fear of bringing homeless people does not make sense. The neighborhood is only housing local homeless people instead of bringing more, he said, and by doing so, homeless people are kept closer to the local connections.
Heidi Chain, the president of 112th Precinct Community Council, said homeless people should be encouraged instead of being treated differently, and it would be best if they can get help through housing programs.
Assemblyman Hevesi says he also shared the empathy for homeless people. He said they are individuals who have fallen on hard times. Most of them just couldn’t keep up with rising rents, some have a mental illness, some have drug or alcohol abuse, but they are humans who deserve respect.
Morris is one of those who suffered from depression, abused alcohol, quit the job, and ultimately lost his apartment. But unlike “traditional” homeless people, he has a job. He is the security guard of Goodwill Industries, a nonprofit organization, and he works from 12 a.m. to 8 a.m. Before getting that job, he says, he usually went to Port Authority or Penn Station and offered help to people with large luggage in exchange for some tip money. “That’s how I support myself till today,” he said.
He is ready to get on to the train to go to his workplace, and he will return to the hotel shelter after work. Despite the criticism regarding the effectiveness of homeless hotels from all others, he has a home for now.
