By Rachel Holliday Smith – DNA Info
A homeless shelter for families is set to open soon in a new apartment building on Rogers Avenue, the Department of Homeless Services said Wednesday — not at a building next door as the city incorrectly announced last month.
Residents are organizing to fight the opening of the shelter for 132 families that will open at 267 Rogers Ave., a large complex wrapping up construction on Rogers Avenue between Carroll and Crown streets in Crown Heights. Previously, the city had erroneously announced the facility would open at 265 Rogers Ave., a small three-story brick building across the street, a spokesman for DHS said.
The shelter, one of three in the Crown Heights area slated to open as part of the mayor’s plan to overhaul DHS, will be run by Samaritan Village, a Queens-based social services organization, the city said.
Neighbors of the Rogers Avenue shelter said this week they are preparing to fight its opening. Dion Ashman, president of the Crown Street Block Association between Bedford and Rogers avenues, is holding a meeting Wednesday night to discuss “our next course of action,” he said.
He said he felt “totally disrespected” when he first heard about the shelter plan.
“I felt that we were taken advantage of because somebody had to have known this was going to happen and no one thought to inform the neighborhood,” he said.
According to DHS, the community was notified about the shelter Feb. 15. The city has said communities will be alerted at least 30 days prior to the opening of a new shelter. So far, the city has publicly released the addresses of only five of the 90 planned locations.
“This administration is deeply committed to an open community notification process, including providing at least 30 days’ notice and, where possible, making adjustments based on community feedback to ensure our facilities are seamlessly integrated into the community and our clients receive a warm welcome,” said DHS spokesman Isaac McGinn.
McGinn stressed that while the Rogers Avenue facility opens, 16 shelter sites out of a total of 19 in the area will close soon, bringing the total number of shelters down to four.
There is no opening date set for the shelter, which will house both DHS-referred homeless families and tenants of affordable housing, DHS said; 80 percent of the new building’s units will be set aside for DHS and the other 20 percent will be affordable apartments.
The Rogers Avenue building has been under construction by developer Heights Advisors since 2014 when the Church of St. Ignatius was demolished to make way for the residential project.
The facility would be one of the first of 90 new shelters planned by Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration to revamp homeless housing citywide. Three of the first five shelters are in the Crown Heights area. One, in Prospect Heights, opened earlier this month.
A second, located at 1173 Bergen St., has faced stiff opposition from residents who are suing to keep it closed. On Tuesday, a Brooklyn judge indefinitely halted its opening as part of legal action against the facility by two block associations and dozens of residents who said the neighborhood is already home to more than its fair share of the shelters.
The meeting of the Crown Street Block Association will take place at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday at 186 Crown St. in Crown Heights, Ashman said.
A DHS spokesman said the city will hold a public meeting about the shelter soon, but no date has been set.
I understand that the homeless need a place to live, but what about the hardworking people of Crown Heights, they need affordable housing, why didn’t our Leaders think about that, why doesn’t DeBlasio find a place for the homeless in Park Slope where he lives
while i’m aware that there are many homeless families who are simply without mazel, i am very wary of the caliber of homeless the city will be housing in these apartments, especially given the fact that we rarely put up a real fight about inyonei ha’shchunah. we must, at least, find legal grounds to check public records of the people moving in to these projects.. if they have no criminal records, they’re entitled to a break; however, those who do have criminal records ( not the jay-walking or littering type) should NOT be housed in a family based neighborhood such… Read more »
It’s so sad how instead of siding with the the blacks, who have a history of hate just like us, we hate them the most.
How sad. All people need our help.
Thanks Yossi Stern for your comments & your concern. We’re with you.
Sorry guys – what about our own homeless? I know for a fact if a lady who is very happy the shelter is moving here. She is estranged from her abusive husband. A new baalas tshuvah and an orphan she entered our schools but wasn’t trained for any parnusa. Now she can’t make much money and can’t afford rent so she is stuck in a shelter. She is thrilled to be able to live among her peers while she gets her feet on the ground.
Wait till it opens, crime will skyrocket even more. You think those vagrants will stick around their fancy new apartments? They will be wandering up to Beis Rivka to check out the kiddies; breaking into your cars; stealing everything off your porches; mugging you at all hours. I will bet dollars to donuts that a few dangerous or severely mentally ill people will be snuck in – and there won’t be any supervision, not for them, not for any of them. Regardless of your feelings about cooperation with our neighbors, now is the time to join forces. We do bring… Read more »
When we are at the point where a hardworking family can get a decent apartment for a reasonable price in Crown Heights, then we can talk about making room for homeless families here!
That building could house ALREADY LOCAL families who are willing to pay but can’t pay the obscene prices charged here now.
That’s the same location where the Crow Hill Penitentiary was located in the 19th Century. So things could be worse.
It seems that the only time they are visible is when there is an opportunity for them to be in a photo-op with politicians. I am sure that they will make sure that they will be with the Mayor tomorrow night at the Tzivos Hashem dinner. Instead of being inside yearning for those photos with the Mayor and other politicians they should be organizing a demonstration outside to protest the City’s dumping the dredges of society on our doorstep. Even the Blacks are fighting against these shelters being put in our midst. The ironic part is that we could have… Read more »
Just because someone is homeless it does not make them garbage! These are families who are struggling. Thank G-d that you do not have that struggle and try to think of ways you can help instead of judging.
I bet these same people opposing the homeless .. are all in to ALLOW illegal refugees into the country! hypocrites!
Used to think like you until I saw the reality. Homeless shelters abound with drug addicts and dangerous people. Of course they should be helped but not to the detriment of local families and their children. That’s why shelters are usually in more commercial areas- where even those of the residents who have severe sociopathic issues can get help without putting those around them at risk.
The clowns on government here just got more comical. So everyone who bought a house at a premium will see the value go waaaay down.
I seem to be getting an abundance of responses and messages from ppl who appreciate a real name to a hot topic comment… so here is another one, how dare the community leaders allow this news to go unannounced for so long while the city built this building with the intentions of housing the homeless in our community. It will be an uphill battle to rescind this city plan at this late stage. The city chooses the least desirable neighborhoods for the homeless, and clearly saw CH as a perfect dumping ground! The chjcc should be out getting thousands to… Read more »
home prices keep going up, quality of life keeps going down. not sure which is moving quicker.
not that i approve of our Jewish community council, but your racist comment in an embarrassment to out community and shows a lack of understanding about the dynamics at play,a labor day parade down 13th (or for that matter a non Jewish homeless shelter) wouldn’t make sense because there are almost no non Jews in those areas. like it or not, crown heights (especially near rogers)is mostly none Jewish
We have zero here no rabbis and no vaad elections in 10 years and no נציגים
Maybe that will finally bring down housing prices and make ch affordable. Homeless or hipsters pick your poison?
Perhaps this will finally bring down the crazy housing prices!
The city dumps all their garbage on Crown Heights because nobody stands up to protest. A homeless shelter is the worst possible thing for the community. These “homeless” are not just unfortunate innocent people who lost their jobs. They are low-life, violent druggies.
You think BP or Willi would allow this? You think they would allow a massive Labor Day parade?
Why would we fight helping someone?
I’m glad we had a revolt 20 years ago.
Where is our great Vadd hakall?