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Protesters Jeer At Homeless Families In Queens: "Pay Your Rent!"
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Jul 1, 2014
Modified Jul 1, 2014
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By
Christopher Robbins
Published Jul 1, 2014
Modified Jul 1, 2014
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An angry crowd hurled slurs at residents of a homeless shelter in Elmhurst last night. According to DNAinfo, the protesters were angry because the Pan Am Hotel, which was previously a hostel, had been converted into a homeless shelter without notice. "Pay your rent!" shouted the demonstrators, which included children. "Get a job!" yelled others.
"We are at a public hearing after the fact," protester Kwong Li told the site. "I thought this was a democracy. I don't live in China anymore."
When one woman stood up at the public meeting to remind the audience that "by the grace of God, each one of you could be in the same spot," the local residents "booed her and told her to sit down."
Ninety families currently live in the Pam Am, which is the 21st shelter in Queens but the first for Community Board 4.
"They probably have it good now, but anybody could struggle," one homeless resident said of the protesters. "They don't know until it happens to them. You don't know until you go through it."
The de Blasio administration inherited an unprecedented homelessness epidemic, and is currently trying to negotiate lower fees from the landlords that comprise the bloated, costly shelter system set up by Mayor Bloomberg.
Tagged
elmhurst
homelessness
homelessness epidemic
queens
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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