City Defends Efforts to Curb Violence in NYC Shelters

The New York City official in charge of homelessness says the state was "reckless" when it told the NYPD—and the New York Post—about allegations of a gang rape at the Bellevue men's shelter in Manhattan. Police later determined the incident never occurred.

In a sharply-worded letter , New York City's Human Resources Administration Commissioner Steven Banks accused the State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance of engineering a “political media hit,” and hampering the city’s efforts to help the homeless.

In an interview with WNYC, Banks says it's time for the state and the city to start working together.

"We've asked the state to conduct inspections together, so that we can hear the same things, we can see the same things, and we can on the spot address them," he said.

The tense exchange follows a series of deadly attacks in city shelters, including the murder of a mother and her two children on Staten Island earlier this month, and the fatal stabbing of a resident in an East Harlem shelter last month.