Lucerne Residents On The Move Again, This Time Downtown

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — In the most recent turn in the tale of the homeless New Yorkers living in a temporary homeless shelter in the Lucerne on the Upper West Side, residents are now getting moved to another hotel in downtown Manhattan, the city said Friday.

According to the UWS Open Hearts Initiative, a local group that has supported homeless residents' temporary housing in the neighborhood, the move will be to the Radisson Hotel on 52 William Street.

The move is expected to be completed by Oct. 5.

We have just learned that the site has been used up to this point as a COVID isolation hotel. So now this is not only about mismanagement of homelessness, it is about mismanagement of the pandemic--because what happens when there's a second wave and those beds are needed?
— UWS Open Hearts Initiative (@UWSOpenHearts) September 26, 2020

The announcement came after a plan got abandoned Friday to relocate the Lucerne residents to the Harmonia in Midtown.

About 150 families at the Harmonia found out abruptly Sept. 10 that they would be evicted. The city put the transfers on pause days later, facing intense criticism and the threat of a lawsuit from the Legal Aid Society, but had been largely silent since then about the fate of those left inside the Harmonia, many of whom have significant health issues.

The West Side Community Organization, a group formed by UWS residents who campaigned to move temporary homeless residents out of the neighborhood and hired high-profile attorney Randy Mastro, who threatened to sue the city, released a statement on Saturday about the impending move.

"To his credit, Mayor de Blasio has honored his commitment and kept his word. And in the process, he has recognized two fundamental truths: SRO hotels are not where we should be housing the homeless. And what has been happening on the Upper West Side as a result of housing so many homeless adults in three SRO hotels in such proximity is simply 'not acceptable.' So today's announcement is a major step forward in doing right by this neighborhood and this vulnerable population."

Council Member Helen Rosenthal mentioned Mastro in her statement to Patch about the city's decision to move the Lucerne residents to downtown Manhattan.

"Any thoughtful homelessness policy has stability as a guiding principal. The Mayor has demonstrated that he doesn’t have a homelessness policy by responding to Randy Mastro’s request with no regard to the instability he is causing. I encourage the Mayor to visit the Lucerne and speak with the men directly. He’ll hear from people who need stability, and are intent on rebuilding their lives."

The UWS Open Hearts Initiative released a very different sounding statement to the West Side Community Group's on Friday.

"We are so proud of the shelter residents who bravely stood up to the city and through their advocacy reversed the terrible decision to close the Harmonia. But we are beyond devastated that the Mayor is persisting in displacing the men at the Lucerne, this time to a vacant hotel downtown," UWS Open Hearts Initiative co-founder Corinne Low said in a statement.

Read More:

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• 'We Do Not Have A Definitive Timeline': DHS Talks UWS Shelters
• Legal Org Calls UWS Residents 'Racist' In Handling Of Shelters
• City Will Move Homeless From The Lucerne
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• Removal Of Homeless Residents From UWS Hotel Temporarily Halted