BENSONHURST — Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (NY-11) recently joined concerned Brooklynites in calling on the City Council to repeal zoning laws that have allowed hotels to function as shelters as of right without any input from the community. The calls come as the city is proposing a new homeless shelter in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, that would provide temporary housing for 150 homeless men, including those with mental health challenges, in proximity to six different schools in the neighborhood.

Perhaps more alarming than the proposed new shelter in Bensonhurst is the revelation that 12 Brooklyn hotels and motels have been converted into housing shelters for migrants and the homeless, according to the NYC Comptroller’s report. The figure of 12 represents a third of the citywide hotels and motels in all five boroughs receiving exorbitant room rate subsidies to house migrants and the homeless, giving the owners little incentive to change those uses, oblivious to the wasted taxpayer money.

In addition to calling on the city to repeal the 2018 law and focus on permanent, supportive and affordable housing options, Malliotakis is calling on the city to follow New York State law that requires a public hearing before a shelter is sited and implement a minimum residency requirement of two or more years so people aren’t incentivized to move to New York City for the sole reason of obtaining free shelter at taxpayers’ expense.

“The City should repeal its 2018 law that ignores zoning requirements and community input to allow shelters as of right. And, instead of warehousing people, the city should focus its efforts and resources on more permanent and sustainable solutions like supportive and affordable housing,” Congresswoman Malliotakis said. “Property owners are now building hotels for the sole reason of entering lucrative contracts with the city, robbing taxpayers of their hard-earned money and deteriorating quality of life in their communities. The focus is no longer on helping homeless individuals and providing them with resources to turn their lives around, it’s all about exploiting loopholes in current law to profit off of their misfortune.”

Specifically, under the 2018 Citywide Hotels Text Amendment, Article Four, Section B, “Transient Hotels” may be used for “temporary housing assistance” by the City, State, or non-governmental entity in cooperation with government partners. According to data from the New York City Department of Homeless Services, hotel shelters contracted with the city are being paid daily rates ranging from $55 to $385, which, on the high end, adds up to more than $11,500 for one room per month. Meanwhile, the average monthly mortgage payment in New York City is $2,991, and the average rent payment is $3,741.

Fraud schemes in homeless shelter contracts have been rising across the country, including earlier this month when a New York City contractor pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges in connection with siphoning money from homeless shelter contracts worth $12 million. In October, two men were charged with conspiring to defraud New York City of more than $50 million after they were caught funneling money from a nonprofit intended to help unhoused to other companies they owned.