Ex-speaker slams mayor on hotels for homeless

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - Amid protests over the city building homeless shelters and housing the homeless in hotels, former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is criticizing the administration for how it has handled the crisis.

Quinn now oversees the city's largest shelter for women and children. She says there'd be a lot less backlash from neighborhoods if the mayor and the department of homeless services came out with a clear timeline and plan of attack.

In the last few months protestors in all five boroughs have picketed outside these so called homeless hotels. Some even marched to the doorstep of Homeless Services Commissioner Steven Banks.

Quinn said converting hotels fits in with "not having a multi-year build plan." Instead Quinn is calling on the state and the city to work together to increase subsidies for permanent housing. She also wants Mayor Bill de Blasio to appoint a temporary housing czar.

A spokesperson for the mayor's office says in a statement: "This is not about more layers of bureaucracy: the City already has the biggest affordable housing program in nation and is set to meet its targets."