City Considers Turning Queens Hotel Into Homeless Shelter
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The city is considering turning a hotel in Queens into a homeless shelter.
With nearly 60,000 people currently in homeless shelters across the city, officials said they must turn to hotels, like the Holiday Inn located in Maspeth off the Long Island Expressway, as an alternative. They want to use the 110-room facility on 55th Road as an adult-only shelter.
It is hard to find much support in the neighborhood, 1010 WINS' Glenn Schuck reported.
"I think it's complicated, I think enough isn't done for a lot of people who need stuff done and I think there's a lot of people who just are too lazy to go out and get a job and they depend on the system to support them," one resident said. "I don't think it's appropriate."
"That place never made it as a hotel so now the government steps in and whoever owns it is trying to make money, and is it the right place? Maybe it's too close to the residents at this point," another resident said.
"That's their way of life. Some people are fat, some people are skinny, some people are homeless. Some people want to be homeless, if they really don't want to be homeless they could get up and do something," another said.
The city said everyone needs and deserves a place to sleep each and every night and the hotel is a good option, Schuck reported.
Additional public meetings will be held in the coming weeks before a final decision is made.
The hotel could be turned into a shelter by October or November.