Mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio has been a staunch critic of the city’s scatter-site homeless shelters — but he’s willing to pocket money from the private operators who run them.
The de Blasio campaign confirmed Monday that he won’t be returning most of the more than $35,000 in campaign contributions collected from property owners and contractors doing business with the city’s Department of Homeless Services.
During an appearance on WWRL radio, de Blasio claimed he had returned $14,8550 from landlord Alan Lapes and his family. Lapes runs more than a dozen hotels that operate as city homeless shelters, and residents have complained of shoddy conditions.
“If you’re talking about Mr. Lapes, we did return those contributions,” de Blasio told radio host Mark Riley.
The Post first reported de Blasio’s pledge to return the funds in February.
But what de Blasio didn’t inform his radio audience was that he has kept $21,000 in contributions from Lapes’ associates — including donations connected to former city Homeless Services Commissioner Robert Hess and his not-for-profit group, Housing Solutions USA.
De Blasio has blasted the Bloomberg administration’s expensive “scatter site” housing for the homeless, which forms Lapes’ empire, as a failure.
Democratic Rival Christine Quinn’s campaign said de Blasio’s decision to take money from the homeless operators he criticizes smacks of hypocrisy.