Several residents with disabilities say they were sent to buildings that did not meet their needs: Some were transferred to a hotel without a working elevator, and one woman who uses a motorized scooter was moved to a hotel without a working front door or accessible bathroom.
The City Council passed legislation in May to raise the CityFHEPS rate to Section 8 levels, but the measure would not take effect for at least six months unless the city agreed to take action sooner.
Adults approved for supportive housing will be precluded from applying for the federal rent vouchers—which attorneys and advocates say cuts off a path to housing for thousands of shelter residents and functions as a proxy for mental health disability discrimination.
With the city’s hotel shelter transfers once again imminent, City Limits reached out to nonprofit providers to talk with shelter staff and visit the buildings where the city puts up New Yorkers experiencing homelessness.
A 2019 survey of CUNY undergraduates found that 14 percent had been homeless over the previous year—including 18 percent of community college students—while 55 percent said they experienced housing insecurity.
The 14 building-deal marks the third time the city has purchased cluster site properties to convert into permanent homes. It also illustrates the complicated reliance on bad landlords to provide temporary shelter—and the business of handing those same owners tens of millions of dollars for their buildings.
The city must provide written notice to shelter residents at least a week before scheduled moves out of hotels, and ensure those with disabilities are informed of the right to request “reasonable accommodations” at least five days before a transfer, the judge ruled.
The legal motion, filed Thursday in Manhattan federal court, accuses the city of a one-size-fits-all strategy that violates the rights of disabled shelter residents to accessible dwellings.
Several people staying in hotels during the pandemic said the city’s plan to send them back to group shelters motivated them to get the shot.
New York City lawmakers on Wednesday adopted a new $98.7 billion budget that bolsters a key rental subsidy for homeless residents and restores some funding to social service providers following last year’s cuts.
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