NEW YORK — After an almost year-long fight, a state appeals court on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit which tried to block the city from relocating men experiencing homelessness from an Upper West Side hotel.

The court said the issue was now moot since the men who brought the case, who had all been living at the shelter, have now found permanent housing.

The ruling means after years of debate and protests, the city will be allowed to relocate the nearly 70 men who still live at the Lucerne Hotel to a different hotel in Lower Manhattan. The decision will have little practical effect, however, since the mayor and the Department of Homeless Services are expected to announce within weeks that the thousands of people experiencing homelessness staying in hotels during the coronavirus pandemic will be moved back to their former shelters. 

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeless Services said in part: "given that the City is developing an overall plan to return to shelter from these COVID-period hotels, with more details coming soon, as the Mayor has said, the Lucerne will be phased out as part of that return-to-shelter plan and these individuals will be included in that plan, rather than relocating twice in a short time period."

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