Nearly 300 homeless men who had been temporarily living in a hotel on the Upper West Side of Manhattan will be relocated after weeks of backlash from some residents who said the men had diminished the quality of life in the upscale neighborhood. The city had moved the men into the hotel, the Lucerne, in July as part of an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus in New York’s dormitory-style homeless shelters. Over all, thousands of homeless men and women have been placed in hotels around the city. But the decision was met with particular blowback on the Upper West Side, becoming a test of values for a largely white neighborhood with a reputation as one of the most liberal enclaves in New York and elsewhere in the country. In a private Facebook group — Upper West Siders for Safer Streets — many commenters said that the men menaced pedestrians and urinated and defecated on the street, and that they used and sold drugs in the open.

Source: New York Times September 08, 2020 23:20 UTC