Homeless Shelter for Families on 65th Street and 7th Avenue & Community Board 10
On November 4th, CB 10 had a meeting the Department of Social Services for NYC about the homeless shelter that is being planned for 65th Street and 8th Avenue. (Here) It is expected to be built and open in 2022.
The Community has been very vocal about another location being chosen.
Who Will Be Housed in This Shelter?
The shelter is for 120 families. This means mothers and their children, a mother, father and children, a mother and her adult son or any family configuration. This is not a shelter for single men or women.
Families who are in their system and from the neighborhood will be housed first. Then families from Brooklyn.
Schools
What schools are children attending from that shelter? Although PS 69 is close to this location, this address is zoned for these schools:
PS 170 elementary school
McKinley for Junior High
Fort Hamilton High School
*But many children continue to attend the school they started in and are given a Metropass to get there.
Describing the Shelter
The organization that is running the shelter has 13 shelters in NYC and 400 supportive housing units in NYC.
*Here’s where the City Employees went wrong: The shelter is a medium size shelter and they should have been able to show some medium size shelters. Instead they said that the design for the shelter was not made yet. The units in the shelter are of various sizes for the for the different sized families.
A small shelter in NYC houses 46 families
A large shelter in NYC houses 215
The building is going to need to be 8-10 floors high to house all of those families.
What will the shelter have?
a) The shelter will have a staff and security. It will have recreation places for children (usually a jungle gym) and parking for the staff (so it doesn’t take parking from the community).
b) The shelter has 24 hour security, security cameras around the shelter and a 24-hour number if you see anything happening at the facility
c) Mental health services will be provided by Thrive.
d) A full pantry will be provided for families in the shelter (food, diapers, etc.)
Will the families have people with addictions?
There may be people in the shelter with challenges. The social workers will help and support them with their needs.
How can someone apply to the shelter?
The Shelter Intake Center is at 151 East 151 Street in the Bronx. (Info here) Families are asked questioned and there is a background check they need to go through before they are placed.
Sunset Park Residents Responded:
Many of the participants in the meeting asked them to move the shelter to below 2nd Avenue because there is more room. Several male residents expressed the need for affordable housing for immigrants in Sunset Park. Several people didn’t think it was fair that residents in Sunset Park wouldn’t live in as good conditions as those in the new shelter. They protested in October. (See here) This location is currently a gas station, so environmental issues may slow down this project.
They said they make every effort to be good neighbors. They have not seen a large uptick in crime in neighborhoods where their shelters are located.
Hugs,
marlene
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