What to Know
- More than 1,100 residents of Maspeth showed up to denounce plans for a homeless shelter at a hotel in their neighborhood
- They say the area already has enough homeless shelters and that the Holiday Inn Express is too close to parks and schools
- The city says it has an obligation to house people and that the shelter will be safe
The planned opening of a homeless shelter at a former hotel in Queens has been postponed after months of protests from neighbors.
The Holiday Inn Express in Maspeth was to be converted into a homeless shelter for an opening date of Oct. 1. Residents have been protesting the plan for months, planning rallies and expressing their opposition at community meetings.
Assemblywoman Margaret Markey said Wednesday the Oct. 1 opening has now been pushed back.
"This postponement gives us the opportunity to continue to bring pressure on the city to change its plan for Maspeth," Markey said in a statement. "With [the] Community Board 5 (CB 5) review still underway, we still have not seen answers to our continuing concerns about the location of the facility, the track record of the proposed provider and details about the financial arrangement between the city, Acacia Network and the hotel owner.”
Officials with the city's Department of Homeless Sevices have tried to stress that the city has an obligation to provide housing and that the facility would be safe.
But neighbors and local leaders have resisted.
Queens City Council Member Elizabeth Crowley and other lawmakers filed a lawsuit in New York Supreme Court against the city’s actions.
“It is illegal for the Dept. of Homeless Services to house families, including adult families, in shelters that have no kitchen facilities,” Crowley said.
