FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 11/13/2020 11:36 PM INDEX NO. 158550/2020 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 201 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 11/13/2020
SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK COUNTY OF NEW YORK ------x
In the Matter of the Application of, Index No. 0158550/2020 DOWNTOWN NEW YORKERS INC.; CHRISTOPHER BROWN; MEGAN KESSLER; and DAEMON O’NEIL,
Petitioners, AFFIDAVIT OF PUBLIC ADVOCATE For Judgment Pursuant to CPLR Article 78 JUMAANE D. WILLIAMS
-against-
THE CITY OF NEW YORK; BILL DE BLASIO, in his official capacity as Mayor of the City of New York; THE NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF HOMELESS SERVICES; and STEVEN BANKS, in his official capacity as Commissioner of the New York City Department of Homeless Services,
Respondents, ------x RAMONE BUFORD, LARRY THOMAS, and TRAVIS TRAMMELL,
Intervenors/Petitioners. ------x
State of New York ) :.ss: County of New York )
JUMAANE D. WILLIAMS, having been duly sworn, deposes and says:
1. I am the Public Advocate of the City of New York. I submit this Affidavit in
support of the Petition submitted by Ramone Buford, Larry Thomas, and Travis Trammell, as
well as the other homeless residents of the Lucerne Shelter Hotel (the “Lucerne Petitioners”),
seeking an order to prevent the City of New York from forcibly relocating them to the Hotel
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Radisson (“Radisson”) in the Financial District of Downtown Manhattan (“Forced Relocation”).
For the reasons recited below, I submit this Affidavit in support of the petition by the Lucerne
Petitioners and their request for a preliminary injunction because: (i) the City’s decision-making
concerning the Forced Relocation appears to have been arbitrary and capricious; and (ii) the
Forced Relocation would expose the Lucerne Petitioners to serious and potentially irreversible
harm – a consequence that would be completely incompatible with the City’s declared policy of
compassionate and humanitarian treatment of homeless individuals.
My Background
2. I am a graduate of Brooklyn College, where I earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in
Political Science and a Master’s Degree in Urban Policy and Administration. I was elected to
the New York City Council, representing the City’s 45th District, in 2009 and was re-elected in
2013 and 2017. As a member of the City Council, I focused my efforts on, among other policy
areas, housing and social justice. Among the legislation I co-sponsored, is a law designed to
regulate tenant relocation specialists, who are typically employed by landlords to buy-out
tenants, often coercively. Needless to say, I am deeply concerned about the homelessness crisis
in New York City and its profound effect on our most vulnerable population.
The Lucerne
3. I became aware of the situation at the Lucerne Shelter Hotel (the “Lucerne”) after
Mayor de Blasio, responding to political pressure from a minority of Upper West Side residents,
attempted to forcibly relocate the Lucerne Petitioners from the Lucerne to the Harmonia Shelter
– a shelter already occupied by homeless families and disabled individuals, who themselves
would have been ousted and relocated if the City had followed through with its initial plan (the
“Harmonia Plan”). However, after public backlash, the de Blasio Administration abandoned the
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Harmonia Plan, citing an alleged “communication error.” Thereafter, without any explanation,
the de Blasio Administration announced its intention to forcibly relocate the Lucerne Petitioners
to the Radisson.
4. Despite what the City of New York Respondents may claim, it is clear to me that
neither the Harmonia Plan nor the Forced Relocation were planned to achieve density reduction
during the COVID-19 crisis. In fact, according to the record in this case, the positive COVID-19
testing rate among the Lucerne Petitioners is less than one percent – better than the positivity rate
Citywide. Meanwhile, the Radisson, to which the Lucerne Petitioners would be forcibly
relocated (if their request for relief were to be denied), was previously used as a quarantine space
to shelter patients stricken with COVID-19. Thus, the City’s explanation does not make any
sense. Why forcibly relocate the Lucerne Residents, whose COVID-19 positivity rate is
substantially lower than the citywide average, to a location that has housed quarantined COVID-
19 patients? The City’s purported rationale for the Forcible Relocation is itself irrational.
5. Furthermore, if the City of New York had been truly concerned about de-
densifying homeless shelters due to the the COVID-19 pandemic, there are still thousands of
homeless people living in congregate shelters who have not been moved. It is irrational to
forcibly relocate the Lucerne Petitioners, who occupy single or double rooms and whose
positivity rate is substantially below the Citywide average, while refusing to relocate those
currently living in congregate shelters, where dozens of homeless individuals are forced to sleep
in close proximity to each other in barracks-like conditions.
6. While it is important for the City to respond to constituent complaints, this cannot
and should not be exploited to advantage wealthy neighborhoods against the marginalized.
Evicting homeless populations from homeless shelters in wealthier neighborhoods would
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inevitably lead to the relocation of all shelters to the poorest of neighborhoods, further
exacerbating the devastation of the City's most vulacrable popula6on. Respectfully, the Court
should not set this dangerous precedent.
7. such as the In addidon, community organizations, West Side Community
cite Organization, Im:ated on the Upper West Side, historically to increased crime levels, drug
use, lewd acts, etc. as justification to evict occupants of homeless shelters. Given that the
majority of Lucerne Residents are African American men, this knee-jerk reaction of associating
homelessness and their presence with crime is akin to closeted, de facto discrimination based on
race. In short, the decision to forcibly relocate the Lucerne Residents constitutes an irrational
determination by the Respcadents, apparcatly based upon the Mayor's political motivations
rather than sound humanitarian housing policy. Such relocation would result in severe and
irremediable harm to a vulnerable population of homeless men of color.
Petitioners' 8. For these reasons, I respectfully urge the Court to grant the Lucerne
petition and, during the interim, continue the temporary restraining order that has, thus far,
maintained the status quo. Without the gmut of a preliminary injunction, the Lucerne Petitioners
would be subjected to serious and possibly irreparable harm, resulting in the mooting of their
meritorious claims and denying them their day in Court.
Jumaane D. Williams
Public Advocate for the City of New York
Sworn before me this /2 day of November, 2020 PAUL KAMPFER Notary Public, State of New York W N Ai7->-A pursue d No. 02KA6142705 Qualified in Westchester County Commission Notary Expires March 20, 2021,,
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