By Bill Parry
The cost of housing the homeless in commercial hotels has skyrocketed in recent months, with the city spending $530,000 per day, up from $400,000 per day just four months ago, according to a new analysis released Monday by City Comptroller Scott Stringer. That’s an increase of 32.5 percent.
The report also revealed that the average daily cost for commercial hotel bookings rose 600 percent over 16 months, going from $82,214 per day in November 2015 to $576,203 in February 2017.
“The rising costs are extraordinary, and we are calling for more transparency from the City because the more open we are about our challenges, the more likely we are to solve them,” Stringer said. “Openness will help deliver results.”
The analysis estimates that the number of individuals now being placed in commercial hotels by the Department of Homeless services has jumped 33 percent, to nearly 7,800 New Yorkers, between October 2016 and February 2017.
Commercial hotel shelters often offer limited services, have limited privacy, and lack kitchens. They are largely inappropriate long-term solutions for families trying to get back on their feet, according to Stringer.
“Homeless New Yorkers don’t belong in hotels — this is a practice that has to end,” Stringer said. “Hotel rooms are not only a Band-aid solution to a complex problem, but they’re also very expensive. If families are going to get back on their feet, we need to help get them the services they need.”
The de Blasio administration announced in February the goal of phasing out commercial hotel rooms as a form of homeless shelter six years from now.
To ensure the city reaches that goal, the comptroller says openness and benchmarks are critical. Stringer called on DHS to also share more information publicly on progress around reducing commercial hotel use.
City Hall dismissed the report, saying the comptroller ignored several facts in making his analysis, such as citing the initial charge for booking rooms on certain nights without taking into account discounts that were negotiated.
“The comptroller is behind the curve,” de Blasio spokeswoman Jaclyn Rothenberg said. “We announced as part of our plan that we will be ending the use of hotels by opening a smaller number of better shelters across the five boroughs, reducing the number of shelter sites by 45 percent. The average cost per night of a hotel is $175 and we recently put into place a plan to further reduce costs and improve services.”
Stringer has been a frequent critic of the mayor’s handling of the homeless crisis, with its population at a record-high 60,000 for the last few months, but he has ruled out challenging de Blasio this fall.
Reach reporter Bill Parry by e-mail at bparr
