NEW YORK CITY, September 13—The power of the recent antiracist rebellions has spread to the mostly white, Upper West Side (UWS) of Manhattan, emerging in a fight over homelessness, racism and inequality. Antiracists are fighting against the displacement of homeless workers from overcrowded shelters into empty hotels so they can physically distance during the Covid-19 crisis, which has emptied the hotels in the first place.
Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members and friends on the UWS have been involved in this fight from the beginning, involving our co-workers, union members and friends from other organizations, while making new friends.
Homelessness is an integral part of the racist, capitalist, profit system. Hospitals and schools are understaffed, but homeless workers can’t find jobs. There is no profit to be made.
Roads, bridges and mass transit need massive upgrades, but there is no money, as the billionaire capitalists are getting richer. And many homeless workers are working, but can’t make enough to pay the exorbitant rents.
 We are struggling with our friends and neighbors to see it’s not just Donald Trump to blame for this racist system; we need a communist revolution to get rid of this racist capitalist nightmare  once and for all.
Racists organize against the homeless
At the end of July, the NYC Department of Human Services (DHS) moved 270 homeless men into the Lucerne Hotel on Amsterdam Ave. There are about 700 homeless workers in four UWS hotels, and thousands more in 60 hotels around the city.
Following this decision, a racist movement, spearheaded by former Mayor and Trump-lackey Rudy Ghouliani and his former deputy Randy Mastro, organized UWS for Safer Streets (SS) to have the men evicted from the Lucerne.

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Racist homelessness by the numbers

• Approximately 57 percent of heads of household in shelters are Black, 32 percent are Latin.
• In May 2020, there were 13,523 homeless families with 20,044 homeless children in the New York City shelter system. Families make up more than two-thirds of the homeless shelter population.
• During the 2019 fiscal year, 132,660 different homeless people slept in the City shelter system, including over 44,300 children.
• The number of homeless people sleeping in shelters is now 61 percent higher than it was 10  years ago. The number of homeless single adults is 133 percent higher than it was 10  years ago.
• The primary cause of homelessness, especially among families, is lack of affordable housing. That’s a symptom of capitalism.  
• Every night, thousands of unsheltered,         unhoused people sleep on the streets, in the subway and in other public spaces.
• Studies show that the large majority of homeless people are living with mental illness or other severe health problems. (coalitionforthehomeless.org).