Lucerne
New York, NY (77WABC)-In announcing a 38% decline in the homeless population on NYC streets and in NYC’s subway system according to the 2021 Hope Count, NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio announced NYC is working on a plan to move homeless people out of luxury hotels and into Safe Haven Shelters and eventually supplemental housing.
It is likely welcome news to Upper West Side residents who sued in an effort to relocate homeless persons from the luxury Lucerne Hotel on West 79th St., claiming increases in drugs, prostitution, and crime. A stay was granted in Dec. of 2020 to prevent NYC from moving approximately 230 men from the Lucerne Hotel on the Upper West Side to the Radisson Hotel in Lower Manhattan.
The Lucerne is one of 63 hotels the city has turned into homeless shelters since the beginning of the pandemic to help prevent the spread of coronavirus inside dormitory-style shelters where single men and women cannot safely distance.
The use of luxury hotels, costing taxpayers millions of dollars.
During his morning briefing at City hall Mayor DeBlasio said:
The Mayor, joined by NYC Social Services Commissioner Steve Banks said the 38% drop in the city’s homeless population includes a 23% decline in homeless people living in the NYC subway system. The MTA resumed 24/7 subway service on Monday after the system was shut down for four hours overnight disinfection during the viral pandemic. The disinfection began on May 6th at the order of NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
DeBlasio and Banks attribute the decline to the tripling of homeless outreach staff from 200 to 600 persons, the availability of 3,000 specialized beds compared to 600 in 2014, and additional supplemental housing with more being added.
Commissioner Banks said the Covid-19 positivity rate among NYC’s homeless persons is 1.2% relatively in line with domiciled residents. Approximately 18,000 homeless persons and staff have been vaccinated against Covid-19, 12,000 of those have received their first doses.
