4 JANUARY 11, 2018 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Report: NYC didn’t vet hotels for crime before housing homeless families
conversion of a local Holiday Inn
Express into a shelter in 2016, added
that this reaffi rms his belief that hotels
are not the solution. As Mayor Bill de
Blasio announced last February, the
city plans to completely phase out the
use of commercial hotels as homeless
shelter by 2023.
According to the report, the DHS has
agreed to implement the DOI’s recommendations
to include a public safety
component that will identify possible
criminal activity when reviewing prospective
hotels, and to have homeless
families with children occupy entire
hotels or withdraw them from hotels
entirely.
The DOI report detailed two specifi c
hotels in the Bronx where investigators
identified suspicious booking
BY RYAN KELLEY
RKELLEY@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
TWITTER @R_KELLEY6
The Department of Homeless
Services (DHS) didn’t properly
screen hotels across the city for
criminal activities before housing
homeless families with children there,
according to a Department of Investigation
(DOI) report released Thursday.
While the report cited no specifi c
wrongdoings in Queens, the investigation
encompassed all 57 of the
city’s commercial hotels that housed
homeless families with children
from January through August of 2017.
Queens has 24 such hotels, more than
any other borough, and there were 40
total arrests made at the hotels during
the investigation period.
Prostitution accounted for 24 of the
arrests, 12 were for assault, and four
were drug-related.
“This is reprehensible, but not surprising
when you’re talking about the
DHS and the homeless situation,” said
Councilman Robert Holden of the 30th
District. “It sounds like the city is so
desperate that they won’t even look at
that. When you have children in there,
that’s disgraceful on so many levels.”
Holden, who marched with Maspeth
residents to oppose the proposed
patterns.
MEDIA ADVISORY
Middle Village Preparatory Charter School
will conduct its monthly Board of Trustees Meeting
on Wednesday, January 17, 2018
WHO: Middle Village Preparatory Charter School
WHAT: Monthly Board of Trustees Meeting
WHEN: Wednesday, January 17, 2018
TIME: 6:00 PM
WHERE: Multi-Purpose Room at Middle Village Prep
Door # 10
Details are as follows:
68-02 Metropolitan Avenue
Middle Village, NY 11379
All meetings of the Trustees and all committees and subcommittees
are conducted with the New York Open Meetings Law
(N.Y. Public Officers Law §§ 100-111).
At a Days Inn in the Morrisania section
of the Bronx, the DOI found at least 12
individuals who purchased at least 11
nights over several weeks or months, the
report states. One individual purchased a
total of 77 nights, and another purchased
23 nights all in cash. This is typical of
prostitution promoters, who use all
cash transactions at hotels to keep their
workers and themselves anonymous.
Aft er conducting interviews with
many homeless clients in the Days
Inn, one client told the DOI that she
observed women dressed in lingerie
walking in the hallway and leading
men into various rooms, the report
states. The same woman also told investigators
that she was approached
by a man who said he knew she was
homeless and off ered her work as a
prostitute to supplement her income.
At a Super 8 Hotel in Crotona Park, seven
individuals purchased at least 15 nights,
and one individual purchased 53 nights
over the eight-month period all in cash.
“The safety of homeless New Yorkers
is our top priority. We share DOI’s
concerns and thank them for shedding
light on this issue,” said Department of
Social Services Commissioner Steven
Banks in a statement. “Upon being
notifi ed of safety concerns requiring
immediate action, we took immediate
action, relocating families or occupying
locations entirely, as DOI recommends
and recognizes in this report.”
A DHS spokesperson emphasized to
QNS that the two Bronx hotels in the
report were outliers in the investigation.
Of the 57 hotels investigated, 50
of them saw fi ve or fewer arrests over
the eight-month period. Nearly half of
the hotels had zero arrests during the
course of the investigation.
In Queens, 12 of the 24 hotels had
zero arrests during the investigation.
The DHS did not identify the Queens
hotels where homeless individuals
and families are placed.
The DHS spokesperson stated that
this underscores what the DOI recognized
in their report: that the use of
commercial hotel locations actually
improves safety by providing additional
security and stability.
File photo/QNS
A protest outside the Holiday Inn Express in Maspeth in 2016, one of 24
hotels in Queens where homeless people now reside.
Glendale Kiwanis gets
another new member
Photo courtesy of Kerrie Hansen
The Kiwanis Club of Glendale recently inducted its newest member:
James Bonner, who works at the Fresh Pond Railyard in Glendale. The
installation took place during the club’s meeting at Zum Stammtisch
restaurant. Shown from left to right are Glendale Kiwanis President
Kerrie Hansen; sponsor Mike Porcelli; Bonner; Assemblyman Mike
Miller; and Kiwanis Lieutenant Governor Carol Masiello.
