Local leaders push permanent housing for Fresh Meadows hotel residents freed from Rikers

Councilmember Rory Lancman toured the Wyndham Garden Hotel in Fresh Meadow after learning that the city was housing more than 100 people released from Rikers Island there. John McCarten/City Council Photography

By David Brand

Two Queens councilmembers have urged the city to find permanent housing for people staying at a Fresh Meadows hotel after they were freed from Rikers Island jails.

Councilmembers Barry Grodenchik and Rory Lancman visited the Wyndham Garden Hotel located on 186th Street Wednesday, days after they said they first learned that the city had paid for rooms there to house people who lacked stable housing. 

“Standing with the local community, our position is that the facility must prevent negative security incidents both in the hotel and in the surrounding area, demonstrate success in placing residents in permanent housing and establish a functioning community dialogue group,” Grodenchik and Lancman said. 

The individuals staying at the Wyndham had nowhere else to go after leaving Rikers and the city put them up at the hotel to protect them and others from the spread of COVID-19 in shelters, officials told the Eagle.

The two lawmakers said they were not aware that the city had been using the facility to provide housing for newly released individuals for two months.  

“The city did not provide any notification of this use to elected officials, the local community board, or civic leaders,” Grodenchik and Lancman said. “The failure to inform the community was a serious mistake.”

The organization Exodus Transitional Community, which provides reentry services to formerly incarcerated New Yorkers, staffs the hotel and runs programs for the residents living there, the city told the Eagle Tuesday.

In a response to Grodenchik and Lancman’s request for information, the city said Exodus provides “wraparound services” such as case management, job placement, meals and assistance finding permanent housing. 

“Residents stay in the hotel only temporarily until they have permanent housing available,” the Mayor’s Office said, according to the two councilmembers. “A private security firm has been hired and is onsite to monitor the building and its perimeter as well as the surrounding area.”

Grodenchik and Lancman said Exodus had agreed to establish a community advisory board, which will include local elected officials, community board members, and local leaders from the nearby neighborhoods.