Removal Of Homeless Residents From UWS Hotel Temporarily Halted

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — New York City has decided to halt its plan to move homeless people out of The Lucerne hotel on the Upper West Side to shelters in Lower Manhattan and throughout the city.

The news comes nearly a week after the city unexpectedly announced that it would move the roughly 300 homeless men staying in the Upper West Side hotel out of the neighborhood.

"At this time, while Commissioner Steven Banks and Corp Counsel James Johnson are reviewing the situation, we are not moving any clients from these locations as part of this initiative," the Department of Homeless Services said in a statement Monday.

The decision to pause the relocation also comes one day after protesters, incensed by the city's planned transfers which threatened to set off a wave of evictions around the city, held a demonstration outside the mayor's home at Gracie Mansion.

• Protesters Bring Clash Over Homeless Shuffle To Mayor's Doorstep
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City Councilmember Helen Rosenthal, who represents the Upper West Side, urged de Blasio to cancel the transfers, arguing that "it's not too late" for the mayor to reverse his decision.

Speakers at Sunday's protest focused their anger squarely at de Blasio, accusing him of hypocrisy for campaigning on behalf of the city's poorest residents but then bowing to neighborhood pressure last week by pledging to move 283 men from the affluent Upper West Side, where residents mounted a fierce campaign against the temporary shelter.

The UWS residents who mounted the campaign to move the shelter residents released a statement Monday night alongside their lawyer, Randy Mastro.

"We understand and expect that the City will honor its commitment to move folks out of the Lucerne and into state-accredited shelters with proper services on-site by the end of this month. As the Mayor has explained, SRO hotels should only be temporary housing, and what's happening on the Upper West Side is 'not acceptable,' so this move will be a win-win for this neighborhood and this vulnerable population," the West Side Community Organization said.

The Legal Aid Society is another prominent group in the conversation and actions around the Lucerne, threatening to sue the city if it went through with the relocation of residents from the Upper West Side.

"We continue to negotiate on next steps and we hope the City will arrive at at a solution that ensures that every New York in shelter can be safe and healthy and receives the accommodations that they are entitled to as prescribed by the law," the Legal Aid Society said in a statement to NBC. "If the City falls short of this legal obligation, we will sue in court."

It is now unclear what the timeline is on moving the shelter residents out of The Lucerne.

Patch reporter Nick Garber contributed to this report.

Read More:

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• Dueling Hotel Homeless Shelter Petitions Divide Upper West Side
• UWS Community Board To Host Virtual Forum On Homeless Shelters
• UWS Pol Gives Update On Hotels Getting Used As Homeless Shelters
• '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
• Local Pols Rip Mayor's Decision To Move Homeless Out Of Lucerne