Funding May Be Restored To City Homeless Shelters, Including Fort Greene’s Auburn Family Shelter

Homeless advocates and local politicians are optimistic over Governor Andrew Cuomo’s decision to work with city agencies to reverse his plan to withhold $2.9 million every month from 16 homeless shelters — including Fort Greene’s Auburn Family Shelter — as a punitive measure in response to concerns about “poor conditions.”

The state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance will reportedly work with the New York City Department of Homeless Services (DHS) “on a plan that will lead to the restoration of funding.”

“Instead of spending scarce resources to re-inspect shelters and issue redundant reports, while citing issues which it knows are already being addressed as an excuse to withhold needed funding, the state should be meeting its own fiscal responsibility to New York City’s homeless families,” said DHS Commissioner Gilbert Taylor.

Standing outside the Auburn Family Residence, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and Councilmember Laurie Cumbo expressed optimism about the news.

“We know that withholding essential funding will not expedite the correction of problems,” said Adams. “We have a moral imperative to save our families from being homeless, and we in fact have a fiscal imperative to spend what is necessary to lift families out of homelessness so they can contribute positively to our economy.”

ith Council Member Laurie Cumbo and Patrick Markee, deputy executive director for advocacy at the Coalition for the Homeless, the State released a statement indicating they had agreed to work with the City on a plan that would lead to the restoration of funding.

“With an estimated 60,000 homeless New Yorkers, most of whom are women and children, the lack of State funding for 16 city shelters would be detrimental to our collective efforts to reduce homelessness and improve current living conditions,” added Cumbo. “The homelessness crisis in the City of New York can only be addressed through the allocation of additional city and state resources.”

Other Brooklyn sites include Acacia Cluster Kings Highway in Canarsie and HELP I Brooklyn in East New York.