The hotel continued to function, though in decline, through the 1980s, when, suffering from a decline in tourism and an increase in homelessness in the area, it began to contract with the city to house homeless families, with the ballroom serving as a multi-function space: dining room, offices, and basketball court. As it continued to decline, writer Jonathan Kozol called it "one of the grimmest places I've ever been." The city shut down the hotel in 1989, and it was purchased by Common Ground, a social services organization, in 1996.