Southeast Queens residents and elected officials headed to City Hall last week to voice their concerns over the city’s new supportive housing plans for their shelter-saturated neighborhoods.
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced last week a new plan to build 15,000 supportive housing units for those in need across the city at an estimated cost of $2.6 billion in capital funds over the next 15 years.
The City Council’s Committee on Housing and Building and Committee on General Welfare held a joint hearing Nov.19 about the new supportive housing plan with the city’s Human Resources Administration and Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
During the testimony, HRA Commissioner Steven Banks said HRA provides a form of financial support, temporary housing assistance, training for employment and services for those unable to work.
Council members Ruben Wills (D-South Ozone Park), I. Daneek Miller (D-St. Albans) and Donovan Richards (D-Laurelton) all spoke up about their residents’ concern about more homeless shelters in their neighborhoods.
13 comments:
And we only heard "crickets" from the rest of our elected representatives...
SE Queens complaining about homeless shelters? Well, i'd bet far more people who would use those shelters come from places like St Albans, than say, Forest Hills.
So, you know, take care of your own.
Support is needed - for the homeless, for people with mental health issues, the elderly, those with developmental disabilities... the problem lies in the CONCENTRATION of these vulnerable populations, contrary to regulations in the style of the Willowbrook de-institutionalization ruling. We recently saw a proposal to build a "mixed use" building with more than half (50+) units dedicated to supported housing for persons with "serious" mental health issues. The proposal was initiated to meet a court mandate to break up the concentration of these people in a nursing home. Deinstitutionlization? Absurd!
Further, "support" all too often means a single agency controls everything: housing, medicaid services, food, recreation: the works. This is a recipe for problems, demonstrated again and again - and contrary to the "individual choice" mantra professed by all involved, and contrary to the mission of returning vulnerable people to community life.
This really upsets me - these people need homes (not just beds!) but it appears the State and Local governments are working on a checklist and ignoring their own mandates, pissing off the receiving communities, and shafting the very people they're supposed to be helping. Feh.
No support, let it collapse
Anonymous Anonymous said...
SE Queens complaining about homeless shelters? Well, i'd bet far more people who would use those shelters come from places like St Albans, than say, Forest Hills.
So, you know, take care of your own.
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WRONG, many of the people in the homeless shelters are not from the area, they are from all over including the Bronx. A homeless shelter is not necessarily put into an area that has a high homeless population, it is put into an area where there is space and the community will not put up to much of a fight, hence why many go into communities of color and not say Forest Hills. Manhattan, Brooklyn and Bronx has a much higher percentage of homeless than Queens.
HRA Commissioner Steven Banks said HRA provides a form of financial support, temporary housing assistance, training for employment and services for those unable to work....This would be the same HRA that was just caught having their own employees stealing millions from the NYC coffers. I'm sure there will be no monkey business here.
Gee, Fred Trump built nice middle-class housing, no? Those were the days.
'Council members Ruben Wills (D-South Ozone Park), I. Daneek Miller (D-St. Albans) and Donovan Richards (D-Laurelton) all spoke up about their residents’ concern about more homeless shelters in their neighborhoods.'
Of course they don't put these facilities in upscale neighborhoods. That would affect the property taxes and resale value. That money is already spent by the politicians.
No one saves up to buy a house in the ghetto. That is where to put these facilities. The neighbors can save up and move to a better neighborhood.
The poor souls in these shelters will never be able to move up, so why place them in an well to do area?
No reverse gentrification (slum building) here!
where's Dizzy Lizzie on this?
Why stop with 15,000 units? The demand could easily be justified to be 150,000 units.
Is anyone claiming that there's less than 150,000 units needed?
Steven Banks has his head in the sand. He is the commissioner of a NYC agency but pretends not to know what's going. Steven Banks is not an honest man.
He will be gone like the snow in August when DeBlasio fails to get re elected.
Why not Tribeca, kips and turtle bay, by the art galleries in Chelsea.
And since there is an abundance of cranes in the area, perhaps the city can convince their subsidy demanding developer pals to build a few tenements in HUDSON YARDS.
Shut up and pay up or I'll raise your taxes
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