On Thursday afternoon City Mission, an organization which tries to help the homeless at various shelters throughout Queens, distributed toiletries and apparently other necessities to some of the homeless men staying at the Maspeth Holiday Inn Express. A noble and worthy mission indeed.
Although there are news outlets who covered this event refer to the hotel as a shelter, Maspeth residents do know that it is not officially a shelter, although it is indeed used to house 30 adult men in 30 of the 110 rooms of the hotel. The community continues to fight against its use as a homeless shelter and against using any hotel which does not have the amenities to properly serve the homeless population.
It is distressing to read quotes from people whom the news outlets call residents of the the hotel and one man who says he ‘lived there for the past month.’
Newsflash…… Zoning permits transient occupation only in this manufacturing zoned building.
Living there for more than 30 days is a violation of the law no matter what loophole DHS uses to put homeless in the Holiday Inn Express.
We remain hopeful that an action by the owner of the property against the operator of the hotel for not using the property in the manner in which the lease dictates is successful.
