What does it take to get a “homelessness czar” fired?
Steven Banks is now putting nearly one in six city homeless up in hotels, at an average of $222 a night. This, when he vowed long ago to reduce the use of hotels.
He was forced to this desperate measure because, following other embarrassing headlines last May, he rushed to phase out “cluster site” housing — and because his plan to build 90 new shelters is far behind schedule.
Banks opened just half the 20 new shelters he’d planned for 2017.
And so the historic Wellington Hotel near Billionaire’s Row in Midtown is housing 120 homeless, while others are holed up at the New Yorker and Excelsior hotels.
All as the homeless headcount rises.
You can see why Mayor de Blasio has had to boost the Department of Homeless Services budget to $1.65 billion for the next year, up from $1.17 billion three years back.
We understand the mayor is sure that Banks’ heart is in the right place, but at some point even de Blasio has to admit that his head just isn’t up to the job.