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This article was produced for ProPublica\u2019s Local Reporting Network in partnership with New York Focus, an investigative news outlet reporting on New York. Sign up for Dispatches to get our stories in your inbox every week, and sign up for New York Focus\u2019 newsletter here.<\/p>\n
Hotels have long been considered a last resort for sheltering people who\u2019ve lost their housing. But over the past few years, they\u2019ve become New York\u2019s predominant response to homelessness outside New York City, a recent investigation by New York Focus and ProPublica found.<\/p>\n
Social services agencies across the state now place nearly half of all individuals and families seeking shelter in hotels. Yet those placed in hotels often go without services that they\u2019re supposed to receive in shelters, such as meals, help finding housing and sometimes child care so they can look for work.<\/p>\n
The growing reliance on hotels has been driven by soaring rent, shelter closures and a spike in evictions that followed a moratorium during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
The state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance has known about the problem for years and even put rules to address the issue on its regulatory agenda. But the agency has failed to formally propose the rules or come up with a way to ensure people receive services they need.<\/p>\n
Here are five charts to explain our investigation.<\/p>\n
Statewide Spending on Hotels More Than Tripled From 2018 to 2024<\/p>\n
Data source: Analysis of Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance data on emergency shelter payments. Years are fiscal years.<\/span><\/p>\n The number of families and individuals placed in hotels doubled in the two years following the end of New York\u2019s eviction moratorium in 2022. As the population in hotels shot up, so did the bill. Over that period, spending on hotels outside of New York City more than tripled to $110 million.<\/p>\n OTDA oversees the state\u2019s county-run social services districts. The agency\u2019s commissioner, Barbara Guinn, said that it prefers that counties use shelters, but that there aren\u2019t enough beds for everyone who needs one. She said that the agency hadn\u2019t studied the growth in hotel use.<\/p>\n Required Services in Shelters vs. Hotels<\/p>\n Note: Requirements are for hotels outside of New York City. New York regulations state that hotels can be considered shelters, and thus mandated to provide services. But there aren\u2019t any that are currently required to do so, Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance spokesperson Anthony Farmer said. Source: New York Codes, Rules and Regulations.<\/span><\/p>\n Despite the growth in spending, families placed in hotels aren\u2019t promised the same services as people in shelters. New York requires family shelters to provide services like child care, assistance finding housing and three meals a day. But the regulations generally exempt hotels.<\/p>\n There\u2019s an exception: A hotel is supposed to be considered a shelter if it \u201cprimarily\u201d serves temporary housing recipients. OTDA spokesperson Anthony Farmer said that the agency interprets \u201cprimarily\u201d to mean \u201cexclusively, or almost exclusively,\u201d and that no hotels currently meet that standard. An analysis of the agency\u2019s data by New York Focus and ProPublica found that welfare recipients made up over half of the capacity for at least 16 hotels during fiscal year 2024.<\/p>\n Guinn said that social services offices have to work within the confines of what hotel owners will allow, and that counties try to provide services off-site.<\/p>\n The Number of Individuals and Families Housed in Hotels for More Than Six Months Nearly Tripled From 2022 to 2024<\/p>\n Data Source: Analysis of Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance data on emergency shelter payments. Years are fiscal years. Stays may not be continuous.<\/span><\/p>\n Not only are more people being placed in the hotels, but they are staying for much longer periods. The number of families and individuals spending at least six months out of the year in hotels nearly tripled from 2022 to 2024.<\/p>\n The lack of services leads to people getting stuck in the system, creating a snowball effect, said Steve Berg, chief policy officer for the National Alliance to End Homelessness.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s this expanding problem,\u201d he said. \u201cA good shelter should be housing-focused. If they don\u2019t have a pretty substantial effort to move people quickly back into housing and provide the services that are necessary to do that, the shelters quickly fill up, and then they just need more shelters.\u201d<\/p>\n Farmer said via email that a lack of affordable housing contributes to the longer stays, and that counties can use other funding to help people move back into permanent housing.<\/p>\n New York Social Services Agencies Frequently Paid Hotels Over Fair Market Rent for a Two-Bedroom Apartment<\/p>\n Nearly half of all payments to hotels were for more than twice the counties\u2019 FMR.<\/p>\n 86%<\/span> of payments to hotels were above FMR<\/p>\n 86%<\/span> of payments to hotels were above FMR<\/p>\n Data Source: Analysis of Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance data on emergency shelter payments; U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development fair market rent data for two-bedroom apartments in each county for federal fiscal year 2024.<\/span><\/p>\n Many hotels are charging rates higher than rent for permanent housing.<\/p>\n The news organizations found that the overwhelming majority of hotel payments exceeded fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment in the same county. (Fair market rent is defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as the 40th percentile of rent plus utilities in the local housing market.) The rates charged were often more than twice that.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re forced to rent hotel rooms across the state, and the operators of these places understand that,\u201d said state Sen. Roxanne Persaud, a Democrat and chair of the chamber\u2019s Social Services Committee. \u201cThe municipalities\u2019 backs are against the wall. And so they must place the unhoused person or persons somewhere. And so that\u2019s why you see the cost is skyrocketing, because people understand that it\u2019s an easy way to make money off the government.\u201d<\/p>\n More Than a Third of Hotels Used to Shelter Homeless People Were Out of Date on Social Services Inspections as of October 2024<\/p>\n 37 had not been inspected on time<\/span><\/p>\n 6 had no inspection status<\/span><\/p>\n 6 had no inspection status<\/span><\/p>\n 37 had not been inspected on time<\/span><\/p>\n Data Source: Analysis of Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance data on inspections of hotels and motels used for emergency shelter.<\/span><\/p>\n New York Focus and ProPublica found numerous examples of families with children living in sordid and dangerous conditions. Roaches, mold, broken windows and filthy linens were common. Some hotels were subject to over a hundred emergency calls a year for assaults, robberies, mental health crises, overdoses and other incidents.<\/p>\n Hotels sheltering homeless families are supposed to be inspected every six months by their county\u2019s social services office. Yet data obtained from OTDA shows that many wind up behind schedule. As of October, about 40% of hotels were either out of date on their inspection or didn\u2019t have one listed.<\/p>\n Farmer, the OTDA spokesperson, said that nearly all hotels were inspected within a year, and that some had stopped accepting welfare recipients.<\/p>\n Guinn, the commissioner, said that OTDA will formally propose rules this year clarifying that people in hotels must receive the same services as they would receive in shelters. She also said her agency will increase oversight of how social services offices are delivering those services.<\/p>\n \n Her Family Needed Housing. They Spent Months in New York Hotels, Left to Fend for Themselves.<\/strong>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This article was produced for ProPublica\u2019s Local Reporting Network in partnership with New York Focus, an investigative news outlet reporting on New York. Sign up for Dispatches to get our stories in your inbox every week, and sign up for New York Focus\u2019 newsletter here. 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\n Lucas Waldron\/ProPublica
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\n Lucas Waldron\/ProPublica
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\n Lucas Waldron\/ProPublica
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