The city’s growing homeless population is creating a problem for city officials who are trying to find more shelter space for people living on the street while getting pushback from residents in neighborhoods across the city. Maspeth, Queens, has been at the center of one such fight – leaving both residents and Mayor de Blasio exasperated. Borough Reporter Ruschell Boone has more.

"The city has not and will not back down," said city Human Resources Administration Commissioner Steven Banks.

It’s tough talk from the head of the city’s Human Resources Administration after some say the de Blasio administration caved to relentless protests from residents over its plan to convert this Holiday Inn Express into a full-scale homeless shelter.

On Monday, the city announced it had rented a number of rooms in the hotel in Maspeth to house 30 homeless men who are single and working. Commissioner Banks said it was the hotel owner — not the residents — who had the final say.

The owner of the property determined not to make the entire building available to us.

Banks' statement came a day after the city said it was not moving forward with a shelter because of local opposition. Either way, protesters are not backing down. They are busy working the phones to get the word out that protests will continue.

"We have to protect our neighborhoods, our children and our quality of life and they are going to move more and more people into that hotel," said President of the Juniper Park Civic Association Robert Holden.

Protest organizers are also joining forces with other civics groups across the city who have asked for help fighting shelters in their neighborhood.

They will be rallying with Sunset Park residents in Brooklyn on Saturday.

In a statement Mayor de Blasio said:

"We didn’t back down on sheltering homeless New Yorkers in Maspeth and we won’t in other communities."

The protesters say they are not backing down either.