About 30 local residents met last night at the Coney Island YMCA, 2980 W. 29th Street to discuss the siting of a Women in Need (WIN) shelter at 2201 Neptune Avenue.
City Council Member Mark Treyger (D-Coney Island, Bensonhurst, Gravesend) also was in attendance and proceeded to emphasize the importance of transparency when it came to the proposed shelter.
“Some of these cases in other parts of the city have become so contentious, some of the commentary has been really unbecoming of folks. We can’t, in good conscience, criminalize people who are homeless. There are folks in our community who need help,” said Treyger. “But at the same time, we deserve basic respect and honesty, throughout this entire process. We should not have been blindsided by this.”
The site would have 200 units and 2,500 square feet of community space, according to Coney Island News, and could be ready within two years. The space would be primarily meant for mothers and children. Supporters argue that it would prevent displacement and allow local students in the shelter system to remain at their schools.
WIN first proposed the shelter to Community Board 13 last year, but the project was met with resistance from residents, who argued that the neighborhood was overburdened and unequipped to handle a shelter.
Environmental concerns were also brought up, because of reports that a previous tenant of the site, the Brooklyn Yarn and Dye Company, poured toxins into the creek years ago.
“It’s the right thing to do, you must be a human being. But how much can we take?” said Queenie Huling, leader of the South Brooklyn chapter of the National Action Network, which sponsored the meeting. She argued that shelters were not being distributed equally in the city, and echoed environmental concerns. “Investigation has shown that it’s toxic over there. How sincere can you be about bringing mothers and their children to live there?”
The shelter would be located on the shoreline of Coney Island Creek, raising the issue of resiliency in the case of flooding or storms. The site was last occupied by Ida G. Israel Community Health Center, which was damaged in Hurricane Sandy in 2012. The Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) refused to rebuild the center in the same location, claiming that it would be vulnerable should another storm hit.
Treyger said he would review a recent Environmental Assessment Statement (EAS) and make sure the public had the opportunity to examine it as well. But he added that because the site was classified as a M1 manufacturing zone, development did not require City Council or Community Board approval.
“I wonder if they even came down to the neighborhood, based on some of the things that were in [the Environmental Assessment],” said Ida Sanoff, community activist and former member of Community Board 13. “These shelters are just a business. If they’re really committed to bringing all these moms and kids back to Coney Island where they have roots, screw the shelter, make it low-income housing, so these people can return to the community permanently.”
Other members viewed the shelter more favorably.
“Nine times out of ten, when kids are displaced, they send the whole family to the Bronx,” said one member named Joe, who said he was an educator. “I was hoping that if we do have a shelter here, our kids in the 11224 area, instead of being displaced and sent up to the Bronx, that they have a location here. And the kids won’t be pulled away from their everyday environment. The only kind of continuity they have in their lives are the schools.”
Permits for the proposed shelter have been filed, but have yet to be approved. Though he acknowledged the group’s misgivings, Treyger added that the issue of homelessness would need to be addressed.
“There are some folks out there who say ‘yeah, we have to deal with the homeless, they’re on the street—but don’t help them here.’ That is not practical, and it’s just not fair either,” said Treyger. “So we do have to deal with this somehow. But we need to deal with it in an honest, transparent, and humane way, and to protect the safety of the residents, both inside the proposed facility and outside.”
There is no set date for the homeless shelter arrival until all permitting is approved. A WIN spokesperson did not return a call for comment at post time.
