WESTHAB Elmsford, the 103 room homeless shelter located on Tarrytown Road, will be closing on March 31^st.  This shelter has served the homeless population since the early 1990s. The shelter previously was a Howard Johnson’s Hotel. When I was a member of the Westchester County Board of Legislators the hotel was receiving $49 a day for rent. The owners of the hotel started accepting homeless families and raised the daily rates to $108. The county, over my objections, placed homeless families in every major hotel in Westchester—including the Rye Town Hilton, Tarrytown Hilton, CrownePlaza.  Soon, the Howard Johnson’s Hotel became a homeless hotel. At one point, early in the 1990s, the NY TIMES, called Elmsford the homeless capitol of the nation. Every hotel in Elmsford was used as a homeless facility. WESTHAB eventually took over the responsibility of housing the homeless at this location and turned the complex into a transitional housing facility—providing families with social services and housing.

The homeless population in the county has been declining in recent years – rooms have not been  fully occupied. And, Elmsford is no longer the homeless capitol of America.

PAUL FEINER