Roughly 200 residents relocated from three-quarter homes

City looks to spend $5 million on finding a permanent solution and moving people out

From left: Commissioner Steven Banks and a three-quarter house in New York
From left: Commissioner Steven Banks and a three-quarter house in New York

Even as the city has started relocating residents from three-quarter homes, it is far from solving the problem of overcrowding in the halfway houses.

The city moved out roughly 90 men and women to a Sleep Inn hotel in Bedford-Stuyvesant recently, according to the New York Times. In total, a newly created task force has moved more than 200 people out of overcrowded houses. Most of them ended up in hotels, according to the newspaper, leaving the question of what to do in the long term still unanswered.

In total, the city is looking to spend $5 million on relocating people and inspecting the three-quarter homes.

The solution, however, is a temporary one. Residents told the newspaper that the homes were still overcrowded and plagued by vermin and other unlivable conditions.

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The residents of these homes are often on public assistance or federal disability and face substance abuse problems, mental illness or homelessness.

Narco Freedom, one of the city’s largest chains of the three-quarter homes, is teetering on the verge of bankruptcy and its former leaders under indictment. It’s unclear how many three-quarter homes there are in New York. Many of the operators are trying to avoid inspection and other scrutiny, the Times reported.

“We’ve inherited a mess,” Steven Banks, a member of the city’s task force, told the newspaper. “But nonetheless, there are solutions that can be implemented, and we’re pursuing those.” [NYT] — Claire Moses