City Relocates College Point Shelter Residents, Citing Pandemic

COLLEGE POINT, QUEENS — A contentious homeless shelter that opened last year in College Point is now empty, after the city moved its residents to hotel rooms to cut down on crowding that can fuel the spread of the new coronavirus.

All the women who were staying at the 200-bed homeless shelter have been relocated to hotels, according to spokespeople for the NYC Department of Homeless Services and State Sen. John Liu.

It's part of what Department of Homeless Services spokesperson Isaac McGinn called an effort to "proactively relocate" shelter residents who aren't sick "out of an abundance of caution" so they can "more effectively isolate" from others.

As of Memorial Day Weekend, the Department of Homeless Services had moved 10,000 adults to hotel rooms. Another 1,000 people will move to hotel rooms this week.

The agency has repeatedly declined to release the names and locations of the hotels housing homeless individuals to news reporters, citing state law and privacy concerns.

"We’re continuing to implement tiered strategies and proactive initiatives to combat COVID-19, protect the New Yorkers who we serve, and ensure anyone who needs it is connected immediately to care or to isolation — and the use of commercial hotels is central to this work," McGinn said in an emailed statement.

The shelter at 127-03 20th Ave. opened in October 2019 amid heated objections from elected officials like City Council Member Paul Vallone, who started a petition against it, and a group calling itself the College Point Residents Coalition, which filed a lawsuit in an attempt to block the shelter from opening.

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