Opening Of Crown Heights Homeless Shelter Delayed Again

On Friday, Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Katherine Levine extended the temporary restraining order again on 1173 Bergen Street, prohibiting the homeless shelter from opening while Crown Heights neighbors negotiate with the shelter’s operators and the City.

Two block associations and more than 40 Crown Heights residents argue that the neighborhood is unfairly overburdened with 19 homeless shelters already in their community. The plaintiffs filed a petition on March 21 to halt the opening of the shelter, which was originally scheduled to open March 22.

After meeting privately with both parties for approximately an hour during a hearing on Friday, April 28, Judge Levine advised both sides to continue to talk and resolve the matter “in a fashion everyone is happy with,” Patch reports.

The Bergen Street shelter is one of the first facilities in Mayor de Blasio’s plan to open 90 homeless shelters throughout the city within the next five years. DHS has announced five new shelter locations so far this year, with three of these planned to be in or near Crown Heights.

The city submitted updated documents to the court on Friday with details about the Bergen Street shelter’s operations and security plan, according to Patch.

DHS insists that the opening of the Bergen Street shelter, as well as the recent opening of a new women’s facility at Prospect Place, would enable the agency to close cluster sites and stop the use of commercial hotels to house homeless individuals in the area.

A DHS spokesperson has said Crown Heights and its surrounding neighborhoods would see a reduction of 100 beds after the opening of these sites.

While the case has been in court, DHS has had to find alternate housing for the 104 senior men whom they intend on placing at 1173 Bergen Street, the spokesperson added.

This is the fourth time the opening of the shelter has been halted. The case will return to court May 15.