Queens hotel converted into homeless shelter

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - A Quality Inn in Woodside, Queens, started doubling as a homeless shelter a few weeks ago. Yet residents say no one from either the mayor's office or the Department of Homeless Services informed them of the new additions. And they're upset.

City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer represents Woodside. He told Fox 5: "While I will never protest the women and children seeking shelter at the Quality Inn, I am extremely upset that the administration converted this hotel into a temporary shelter without notifying anyone in the community.

The city has used motels as temporary shelters before as was the case with the Pan Am motel in nearby Elmhurst, which also caused controversy.

Similar to the furor associated with the city's plan to make a Holiday Inn Express in Maspeth, Queens, a homeless shelter by October 1.

And right now on the Upper West Side, the Excelsior Hotel on West 81 Street apparently is allowing a significant number of its rooms to house homeless persons.

We reached out to the Department of Homeless Services for comment on our story. No one got back to us.