New York’s Department of Homeless Services is paying nearly twice the going room rate for a night at the Waldorf Astoria to house the homeless in Times Square hotels.
The city is paying more than $600 a night to ensure that some of its homeless are taken off the streets, for a total nightly cost of about $400,000, according to a report released by city Comptroller Scott Stringer Wednesday.
The report comes after two young sisters died in “cluster housing” in the Bronx from burns caused by a burst radiator valve in their apartment. Cluster housing combines housing for homeless and non-homeless families.
In November 2015, DHS placed 324 homeless families in city hotel rooms. By October, that number had leapt to 2,069, investigators said, adding that average hotel bills rose from $163 to $194.
Stringer revealed that the city has booked 425,000 hotel rooms since last November, at a cost of more than $72.9 million. He urged the city to find “a comprehensive, transparent road map to solve this extraordinary crisis.”
As comptroller, Stringer has been a vocal critic of Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration, and appears to be positioning himself for a mayoral run in 2017.
19 comments:
It was a crisis, it's now a catastrophe.
Yep 600/night/family but the cost of a average high end hotel in manhatten is 325/night. Go figure! Leave it up to mayor dumblasio.
Follow the money! For $2000 these people would have a nice apartment in Queens.
Totally unbelievable and this falls on the taxpayer from little Susie working at Dunkin Donuts to Grandma who is counting her pennies. All taxpayers are hit with this dime. How much more can we take?
this is so corrupt- The Gov't- always over budget (probably because they are all getting paid under the table) and delayed. How can it make sense that we have this many units we reserve for the homeless and we can't get a reduction on the room rate- god damn weddings get room rate reductions for a one day event, the city is housing people for years and they cant get a reduced room rate? instead they pay DOUBLEEEE, wtf.
Good morning, Mr. Stringer. Glad of you to notice this now.
Amazing how fast officials release this profligate waste. Yet again, a case where something fatal had to happen to get attention and accountability.
Why not give each homeless a one-way bus ticket to a warm city (say, in Florida or Arizona) and a few dollars?
TIME FOR GOVERNOR CUOMO SWOOP IN AND RESCUE THE CITY !!
Totally unbelievable and this falls on the taxpayer from little Susie working at Dunkin Donuts to Grandma who is counting her pennies. All taxpayers are hit with this dime. How much more can we take?
HOW CAN YOU HAVE SYMPATHY IS LITTLE SUSIE AND GRANDMA AUTOMATICALLY VOTE DEMOCRATIC EVERY TIME?
C'mon people, let's put this in perspective:
Is $600/night really that expensive?
Just think about all the VIBRANCY you're getting!
The lucky homeless who get assigned hotel vouchers are black or Hispanic sistahs with multiple children by multiple baby daddy who take no responsibility for their children.
These people know that at some point the gravy train may come to an abrupt halt, so they need to cash in as much as they can while the cash is flowing.
When the comrade runs for reelection it will be time to pay back...
This little Susie and Grandma are proud Republicans! Putting party lines aside...all New Yorkers had enough of this.
Somewhere there is a solution to this outrageous cost. Maybe someone should re think this right to shelter law??? Send these people back to their home states or have every state in this fine country have this law. It sure would help us out here. Imagine the right to shelter in sunny Florida?
This is just another way that NYC's REBNY politicians underwrite their developer contributors' failed hotel projects.One hand washes the other. Unoccupied hotels make good homeless shelters. In politics, we learn to jerk each other off , to full satisfaction for both participants.
Thus, builders and city council members can arrive at a mutually happy ending.
I don't know if I should be outraged that they city is paying for rooms at the fucking Waldorf, or happy that the city isn't just shipping all the homeless into Queens, but finally spreading it around a little.
>This is just another way that NYC's REBNY politicians underwrite their developer contributors' failed hotel projects
I wouldn't call the Waldorf-Astoria a failed hotel.
Next time I plan to visit NYC I'll dress down real low. Maybe I can ge a free spot in a nice hotel if I pass for homeless.
With continental,breakfast served.
LMAO!
Easier to ram in a hotel that easily converts to a homeless shelter than seek approval for a real one.
Teump is right. DRAIN THE SWAMP of crooked politicians and their developer accomplices and supporters.
Hang De Blasio!
Ops...typo...Trump!
I know a homeless wannabee Broadway Thespian who lives in a Manhattan storage unit....showers at the Y...etc.
Until they get a Tony award, it ain't a bad life. LOL! The rent is cheaper than a micro unit apartment.
Climate control...24 hour access..bathroom on each floor. Then you wait tables.....whatever until your big break.
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