'We Do Not Have A Definitive Timeline': DHS Talks UWS Shelters

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — More than 1,100 people were already in the Zoom meeting room when Community Board 7 Chair Mark Diller kicked off a public forum Monday night about Upper West Side hotels being converted into temporary homeless shelters.

The eye-opening number of Zoom attendees reflected the intense local interest that residents of the Upper West Side have shown regarding the nearly 700 homeless men and women being moved into the neighborhood since May.

"The meeting is for the public to hear directly from the Department of Homeless Services and the service providers in the three hotels," Diller said in his introductory remarks. "For a productive exchange of information."

Due to high attendance numbers, the meeting could not operate town hall-style — so residents with questions were asked to email in their queries. However, those questions were not the first item on the agenda.

Almost every important figure and organization involved in the placement, management and discussion of the nearly 700 shelter residents at The Lucerne, Hotel Belleclaire and The Belnord was involved in Monday night's forum.

Speakers during the event included:

• Erin Drinkwater, deputy commissioner of legislative affairs at the Department of Homeless Services
• Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer
• City Council Member Helen Rosenthal
• Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal
• State Sen. Brad Hoylman
• State Sen. Jose Serrano
• Representatives from the respective organizations running the day-to-day operations at each shelter.
• Commanding Officer of the 24th Precinct Deputy Inspector Naoki Yaguchi
• PS 87 Principal Monica Berry
• Keri Goldwyn, program director at Goddard Homeless Outreach Team
• Representative from Upper West Sider for Safer Streets Facebook page, Lorena Matus
• Representative from Open Hearts, Melissa Sanchez
• Representative from West 79th Block Association, Dale Brown

The forum lasted three hours, but there were major highlights to the discussion.

One concerned the answer given by the Department of Homeless Services' Drinkwater when asked directly about how long "temporary" means when it comes to the shelters staying on the Upper West Side.

"We do not have a definitive timeline, but we are working with the health experts to understand what thresholds will allow us to go back," Drinkwater said. She added that commercial hotels give the DHS a much easier ability to maintain social distancing within the shelter and make testing available, compared with the typical congregate housing given to single men in the shelter system.

Drinkwater emphasized that the agency would continue to work with health officials to determine when it was safe to move shelter residents back into congregate housing.

Drinkwater also said that single men and women experiencing homelessness were moved into the UWS hotels and not families because the Department of Homeless Services places families exclusively in apartments where they can have their own space.

When asked about whether the Upper West Side has a disproportionate number of shelters in the community, Drinkwater repeatedly said that there were four temporary shelters in the neighborhood out of 60 the city agency has opened throughout the five boroughs.

The topic of sex offenders possibly living in the three homeless shelters was another one repeated during the meeting. One that the Department of Homeless Services more or less dodged throughout the night.

When asked the question directly, Drinkwater gave a lengthy explanation of how a sex offender could be placed on the registry, but not have any residential restrictions. She did not say yes or no, or how many.

However, all three service providers for the individual shelters, Project Renewal at The Lucerne, Help USA at Hotel Belleclaire, and the Center for Urban Community Services at The Belnord, had representatives in the forum state that there were zero sex offenders currently living in the three shelters.

These bits of information came from the question and answer portion of the forum. However, before that, elected officials and pre-selected individuals spoke for close to an hour and a half.

The politicians' remarks varied slightly, but the common denominator was a frustration in the city's lack of notice on the shelters getting moved into the neighborhood.

"I am upset because if in fact, the City moves people into hotels without telling the community, then we can't plan," Brewer said. "We don't know when the end date is, we know this is not a permanent situation, but I do wish we could figure it out."

Rosenthal implored the community to find a way to come together.

"The Upper West Side can play a very constructive part as the City tries to address the COVID-19 crisis and our crisis with homelessness," Rosenthal said. "For a limited time several 100 shelter residents will be our neighbors, as Mark asks, how can we find a way to live responsibly and respectfully together."

Hoylman, who recently announced his candidacy for Manhattan Borough President, took a slightly more accusatory tone about the City's shelter placement process.

"The lack of planning, the lack of communication, is unacceptable, even in the middle of a pandemic, even when we're trying to do the right thing, you can expect outrage from community members," Hoylman said.

While the local politicians shared the same general viewpoints more or less, the same could not be said for the Upper West Side representatives speaking for respective organizations.

"The character of our neighborhood has changed and not for the better," said Lorena Matus, a member of the Upper West Siders for Safer Street Facebook group. "Our elected officials have failed us. Complete utter lack of transparency. You have an obligation to provide an environment of safety to your community and you have failed to do so."

Shortly after Matus spoke, Melissa Sanchez, a member of the UWS Open Hearts Initiative, spoke about how the group has mobilized direct supplies, created art supply drives, host sidewalk chalk events, and Metro Card drives for the shelter's residents.

You can read more about the temporary shelters on the Upper West Side at the following links:

• UWS Hotel To Become Temporary Homeless Shelter For 283 People
• Remove Sex Offenders From UWS Hotel, Council Member Demands
• UWS Pol Changes Stance On Sex Offenders In Neighborhood Hotel
• 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