Upper West Side Community Upset with Department of Homeless Services

by Kris Venezia | 08/07/2012 | 3:10pm

Buildings on Manhattan's West Side to receive four hundred homeless individuals, tenants say they had no say in the matter.

Some residents and city officials stood on the corner of 95th Street and West End Avenue in Manhattan today in protest of the Department of Housing Services.

The DHS has begun moving in 400 homeless individuals to residential housing in the Upper West Side. State Senator Adriano Espaillat says the neighborhood deserves a voice on this issue.

"The leadership of this community has not been consulted," he said, "We're not moving cattle in the middle of the night, this is an effort by the city to pull the wool over us."

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer says the owner of the building will receive about $3,000 dollars a month for housing these individuals. He also says this isn't fair to the neighborhood.

"People who have worked very hard to become part of our community... Now they've been told they're going to have to share bathrooms. They've been told to basically get out of the way," he said.

The Department of Homeless Services has not returned our request for comment.

Upper West Side Community Upset with Department of Homeless Services

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