6 Sq Ft

Advocacy groups first called on de Blasio to use the city’s 30,000 vacant hotel rooms to house homeless New Yorkers three weeks ago. A coalition of organizations, including Vocal New York, Neighbors Together, and Urban Justice Center, are behind the “Homeless Can’t Stay Home” campaign.

The Telegraph

Advocates and elected officials, including New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, are urging Mayor de Blasio and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to house up to 30,000 homeless individuals in unused hotel rooms to help them engage in social distancing and limit the spread of COVID-19.

Advocates and elected officials urged Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo to house homeless New Yorkers in vacant hotel rooms during a press call on Tuesday as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to ravage New York City.

The Indypendent

The Urban Justice Center’s Safety Net Project reports that NYPD is continuing to regularly clear homeless camps — a routine practice that advocates say explicitly disregards recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The Intercept

Johanna Garcia is doing her best to keep her family and others safe during the coronavirus pandemic. She washes her hands a lot; she cleans constantly; she goes on social distance walks with her kids, 10-month-old Logan and 4-year-old Abigail. But there’s only so much she can do while living at one of New York City’s approximately 450 homeless shelters.

Recently, the city has been conducting sweeps, but that’s not much of a solution either. “They move to another block or they’re likely arrested,” said Craig Hughes, a social work supervisor with the Safety Net Project at the Urban Justice Center. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises that “Unless individual housing units are available, do not clear encampments during community spread of Covid-19.”

Tens of thousands of homeless people in New York City shelters and on the streets have been left with no way to safely shelter in place. We hear from people who are homeless, and speak with Kiana Davis, advocate and policy analyst with the Safety Net Project at the Urban Justice Center.

NY Daily News

“It’s an essential service,” said Kiana Davis. a policy analyst with the Urban Justice Center. “People should be able to access the centers. Having fewer centers means more overcrowding in the centers that are open.”

The City

“They’re pushed into drop-in centers that are struggling, but are also a dangerous environment for the spread of this virus,” Craig Hughes of the nonprofit Urban Justice Center told THE CITY.

“It’s an essential service,” said Kiana Davis. a policy analyst with the Urban Justice Center. “People should be able to access the centers. Having fewer centers means more overcrowding in the centers that are open.”