Stringer Condemns Opening Of Upper West Side Shelter
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Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer is speaking out against the Department of Homeless Services and its plan to open a large-scale shelter on the Upper West Side.
Stringer said the city opened the shelter too quickly with virtually no community consultation.
He is calling on the DHS to suspend its efforts to move about 400 people into two buildings on West 95th Street.
"You cannot simply put 400 people in two buildings on a narrow street and just think this is going to solve the homeless crisis that plagues our city,” Stringer said.
"We need to have shelters throughout the city, including on the Upper West Side, where we can provide strong programs that work with people who live there to get back on their feet and work with the community to make sure that we don't impact negatively the neighborhood around the facilities,” DHS Commissioner Seth Diamond countered.
Stringer's office said the buildings being used as shelters operated as illegal hotels as recently as last year and were fined $600,000 by the city.