Hell's Kitchen Hotel Residents Protest Move Back To Shelters

HELL'S KITCHEN, NY — Homeless residents staged a small demonstration Wednesday outside the Hell's Kitchen hotel where they have been living for six months, protesting the city's decision to move them back into congregate shelters as the pandemic wanes.

The protest was held outside Four Points by Sheraton on West 40th Street, where staff were busy loading residents' belongings into vans parked outside the hotel Wednesday afternoon. It is one of at least five hotels in the neighborhood being emptied out this week as the city shuts down the temporary program.

About 300 men had been moved to the Four Points in January after initially being housed at the DoubleTree hotel on West 36th Street. The city relocated them amid complaints by neighbors that too many temporary shelters had been placed on a single Hell's Kitchen block.

Now, the residents say they are dreading the return to crowded shelters — which will come as soon as Thursday or Friday as the city works to clear the hotels. Like many other New Yorkers housed in hotels, they voiced frustration that the city could not use the pandemic as a chance to find them permanent housing.

"The city’s had over a year, 18 months, to find housing for us. And the city doesn’t want to do it," said Peter Trapani, 34, who is set to be moved to a shelter in the Bronx.

At the Four Points, Trapani shares a bedroom and bathroom with one other man, while the Bronx shelter has up to 16 men in a single room, he said.

Trapani noted that the federal government has reimbursed the city for the costs of the temporary shelters and pledged to keep paying through September. The city points out those payments do not cover staff, services and other programs.

Another Four Points resident, John Bowden, said he is worried about low vaccination rates at the Bronx shelter, where he is also headed. Data shows residents of the city's shelter system have been vaccinated at far lower rates than the general public, THE CITY reported.

Wednesday's protest was organized by Marni Halasa, a recent candidate for the neighborhood's District 3 City Council seat.

It drew just a tiny fraction of the Four Points' hundreds of residents, though one man, who asked to be identified as Malik, said that shelter staff had threatened residents by saying they would be transferred into another shelter system if they attended the demonstration.

The city's Department of Homeless Services has come under criticism for winding down the shelters, with advocates calling the transfers a capitulation to "Not-In-My-Backyard" groups that could not tolerate having shelters placed in wealthy neighborhoods.

The agency, meanwhile, has praised the work of shelter staff and providers to relocate thousands of people during the pandemic, and stressed that the hotels were never meant to provide lasting shelter.

Still, Four Points resident Anthony Bondi said the yearlong process seemed to amount to little, given the pending transfers back to shelters.

"The money they spent to put us here a year could've put us in apartments for God knows how long," he said.

Previous coverage:

• City Begins Booting Residents From Hell's Kitchen Hotel Shelters
• City To Move Hell's Kitchen Shelter After Neighborhood Pushback
• Another Shelter Battle Brews In Hell's Kitchen As New Group Forms
• Hell's Kitchen Board Implores City To Reduce Hotel Shelters