City and non-profit officials made a compelling case before several hundred local residents this past Wednesday regarding the legal and moral responsibility of housing 253 homeless families in Lower South Park Slope, but questions about the costs and the sitings of the shelters remain unanswered.
Under the plan, the city’s Department of Homeless Services (DHS) will place two homeless shelters for families to open this fall at 535 4th Avenue (between 14th & 15th Street) and 555 4th Avenue (between 15th & 16th Street) in Lower South Park Slope.
The non-profit Women in Need (WIN) will operate both facilities at the buildings, which have each been under construction for several years and have racked up numerous construction violations including a partial building collapse in 2016.
The buildings are expected to serve a combined 153 families with children experiencing homelessness as they get back on their feet, including fathers, according to DHS.
WIN will also provide on-site services that will include case management, individual and group counseling, permanency planning and housing placement assistance, referrals to medical and mental health services, support groups, independent living and life skills workshops, recreational programming for children and residential services and support in finding and securing employment.
At the community meeting held at John Jay High School, 237 7th Avenue in Park Slope, City Council Member Brad Lander (D-Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Kensington) noted that both Los Angeles and New York City have about the same number of homeless people, but the difference is New York City has a right to shelter law for anybody that wants to get off the street while Los Angeles does not have that law.
“I want a city where we have everyone in safe, permanent housing that they can afford but since we live in a city that has so many homeless families, we have a collective obligation-legal and moral-to provide safe shelter for them every night. And every community has to do their share,” said Lander.
Residents at the meeting were roughly split between those who welcomed the shelters and the homeless as people like everyone else with both good and bad among them, and those with more ‘Not In My Backyard’ (NIMBY) types, who expressed concerns about possible increases in crime and litter, and property values going down.
But both Jackie Bray, first deputy commissioner at the city’s Department of Homeless Services, and Lander noted that many of the homeless families were working people who can’ afford the high rents, and that about 20,000 of the city’s homeless are children including 11,000 that are six years old or less.
But besides the ethical and moral back and forth regarding the placement of homeless shelters were concerns about the costs involved.
“How much is the city paying for those units?” asked Bo Samajopoulos, a retiree who said he lived down the street from the proposed shelters. “Fourth Avenue is over saturated with a cesspool of luxury condominiums.”
Samajopoulos said there wouldn’t be as many homeless in the area had not Bill de Blasio rezoned Fourth Avenue to allow market-rate mixed-use buildings up to 11-stories high, which displaced many working families that had previously lived in the low-rise buildings.
Bray said the city will pay market rate for the shelter units and all the prices are still being negotiated. The contracts will be available for review to the public once they are completed, she said.
But one longtime property owner on Fourth Avenue very close to where the proposed homeless shelters are located suspected the city may be bailing out Slate and Adam America as the two massive projects likely have large cost overruns between the partial collapse and the amount of time they have been under construction without completion.
“Just the finance charges of not having the building completed has got to be enormous. The city could have just rented two floors instead of the whole building and taking away the ground floors for retail. The city will likely pay $3000 a month for a one bedroom, and for that kind of money they could have bought a building,” said the property owner.
Under the plan, Slate Property Group and Adam America are negotiating the price directly with WIN, and the president and CEO, former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. They will then get the money from DHS to pay the rent and run the shelters complete with the services.
“Slate Property Group believes in the mission, goals and work done by Women in Need (WIN) to help New York City’s homeless families,” said a spokesperson for Slate. “We are excited for the opportunity to work with both WIN and the de Blasio administration on this project and look forward to bringing this facility to life for Brooklyn families who need it most.”
