Posted on December 13, 2015 by Rosa Goldensohn in Crain's New York Business Crain's New York Business, By Rosa Goldensohn Advocates for affordable housing hate it. The mayor’s own chief investigator called for it to be cut back. But so-called cluster housing for the homeless is about to get another $200 million from the de Blasio administration, which is proposing contracts that could run through 2024. Cluster sites—privately owned apartments leased and overseen by shelter operators—are notorious for filthy and sometimes dangerous conditions, and critics say they exacerbate the housing crisis by sucking up mostly rent-regulated units for temporary use. Before he became the administration’s Human Resources Administration commissioner, Steven Banks said the city was “shooting itself in the foot” by housing homeless people in them.
