Bad Landlords Poised To Profit On De Blasio Plan To Turn Rent-Stabilized Buildings Into Long-Term Homeless Shelters
The Department of Homeless Services is quietly finalizing more than $98 million in contracts that would turn five apartment buildings currently part of the notoriously mismanaged cluster site program into homeless shelters, and maintain six more as cluster sites for at least the next three years.
These privately-owned buildings, located in Brooklyn and the Bronx, have more than 300 apartments between them and are either partially or entirely occupied by homeless families. Rather than convert them to low-rental housing and provide residents with tenant protections, as Mayor Bill de Blasio pledged last January, DHS is planning to maintain them as family shelters (a tactic referenced in the mayor's February homelessness game plan). Advocates say this will reward negligent landlords who already benefit from the cluster program's large payouts and lax oversight. . .