South Queens, NY – Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato (D-South Queens), penned a letter to the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) Commissioner Steven Banks requesting the agencies timeline and protocols for bringing residents back to the Amani House shelter located on Beach 101st Street in Rockaway Beach, Queens. The letter also requests information indicating how DHS will proactively reduce warehousing and dormitory-style housing in the Amani House to prevent the spread of COVID-19 or any airborne illness.

“What we learned from COVID-19 is that congregate housing settings contribute to the spread of airborne illnesses,” Pheffer Amato said. “Warehousing and dormitory-style housing is unacceptable and put homeless New Yorkers and our communities at risk. The devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic will last generations, so it is our responsibility to take the lessons learned and use them to end warehousing and dormitory-style housing in our homeless shelters.”

Pheffer Amato previously submitted legislation during the 2019-2020 legislative session outlawing warehousing in all homeless shelters in New York State to limit the spread of COVID-19.