The de Blasio administration has agreed to stop housing sex offenders near a Queens school after residents and a local councilman took matters into their own hands. NY1's Ruschell Boone filed the following report.

After years of protest, City Councilman Ruben Wills finally used a measuring tape to prove once and for all that sex offenders housed at the Skyway Men's Shelter were too close to P.S. 124, just two blocks away.

According to state law, sex offenders are not allowed to live within 1,000 feet of a school or playground.

"We found out that it's actually 922 feet away, which is well under the 1,000-foot mark," Wills said.

Residents have been fighting the shelter ever since the city converted the motel to a single men's facility from a family shelter in 2011.

"Fast forward four years later, and we have 52 sex offenders in there, level 2 and 3, and many of them with heinous crimes against people under 18," Wills said.

The councilman planned a press conference for Tuesday to throw a new spotlight on the problem and pressure the city to move the sex offenders out of the neighborhood. Shortly before the press conference, the city buckled.

In a statement to NY1, the Department of Homeless Services said, "Originally, this site met the requirement to be 1,000 feet from a school, but yesterday, DHS was notified the facility no longer meets this geographic requirement."

Many parents are not buying that explanation, but they're just glad the fight is over.

"A big sigh of relief. It's great. Great news. We've been looking forward to this a long time," said PTA President Eileen LaManna.

Residents are not the only ones who are happy to hear it. Some of the other men who live in the shelter are relieved, too.

"I feel real good that they should move them out of here because a lot of people around here don't even speak to us because they think everybody is in there, which I'm not one," said one shelter resident. "So yeah, I'm very happy. Very happy."

DHS is now working to relocate the sex offenders to other places that are compliant with state guidelines.