DHS Responds to Temporary Block On Crown Heights Homeless Shelter
The New York City Department of Home Services Press Secretary, Isaac McGinn, reached out to BKLYNER late Friday with additional information following the court-issued temporary block on the homeless shelter proposed for 1173 Bergen Street in Crown Heights.
“Despite today’s ruling, we are opening this site next week so that we can provide shelter to homeless seniors from the community,” McGinn said. “We are confident that the court on Tuesday will recognize our vital need for these additional beds and [we] intend to move clients in as soon as possible so that they can stabilize their lives.”
As reported on Friday, two block associations and several Crown Heights residents in CB District 8 filed a petition on March 21 to halt the shelter’s scheduled opening on March 22.
The plaintiffs argue that several city and state reviews have not yet been completed and that Crown Heights is unfairly oversaturated with shelters.
On Friday morning (March 24), a judge issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting the shelter from opening until another judge hears the case on Tuesday, March 28.
The Fair Share and Environmental Impact analyses have been completed and will be published Monday (March 27) along with the temporary certificate of occupancy for the building, according to McGinn.
DHS has announced five new shelter locations so far this year, with the agency providing proper notification to the affected neighborhoods McGinn insists. “Communities will be the first to know as new locations are identified through the open-ended RFP process,” he states.
Three of these five new shelters are located in or near Crown Heights. 174 Prospect Place, a shelter for women with special needs, opened last week in Prospect Heights.
On February 15, McGinn says the DHS notified affected communities about a family shelter slated for 265 Rogers Avenue in Crown Heights as well as the 1173 Bergen Street shelter which will provide transitional housing for senior men 62-years and older.
He insists that CB8 will see a reduction of 100 shelter beds after the opening of 174 Prospect Place and 1173 Bergen Street because seven cluster sites and commercial hotels used to house the homeless in the district will be shut down, in adherence to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s “Turning the Tide on Homelessness” plan.
A reported five of these sites will close this year, eliminating 80 beds, while over the course of the ten-year plan two additional sites (1 cluster site and 1 hotel) will be closed, reducing approximately another 220 beds.
The addition of 174 Prospect Place and 1173 Bergen Street will add 90 and 104 beds, respectively—for an approximate 106 fewer beds in the CB8 district.
McGinn says due to the temporary restraining order, DHS currently has to find alternate housing for the individuals whom they intend on placing at 1173 Bergen Street. This includes putting them in hotel rooms, “a more expensive and less effective emergency alternative,” he says.