Central Queens residents who thought they successfully beat back city plans to place a homeless shelter in their area should think again.
Now, they’re getting two.
The move comes despite years of opposition from Maspeth residents who yelled at officials, protested outside a top city official’s home and even voted out their Dem council member in favor of an opponent who ran on the Republican line.
One facility, to be located at 78-16 Cooper Ave. just outside Maspeth, will house 200 single adults.
The other, at 1616 Summerfield St. in Ridgewood, will be for 132 families with children.
“While the narrative is that communities oppose shelters, the reality is that most communities have accepted the opening of shelters because we’re providing the ability to shelter people from that area,” Social Services Commissioner Steve Banks told the Daily News.
The Cooper Avenue shelter, scheduled to open early next year, replaces a temporary shelter that had been located at a Holiday Inn Express. Like the temporary shelter, the new facility will emphasize getting residents employed. It will be run by Westhab, a Westchester-based non-profit.
The Summerfield Street shelter will open by end of 2020 and is aimed at enabling homeless Queens children to continue to go to their neighborhood schools, Banks said. CORE Services Group, which has worked with the city on other shelters, will run this one.
The Department of Social Services promised to establish “community advisory boards” that will work with residents in the area.
QNS
The Cooper Avenue site will house 200 single individuals who are currently employed or seeking employment and open in early 2020.
The Cooper Avenue shelter, scheduled to open early next year, replaces a temporary shelter that had been located at a Holiday Inn Express. Like the temporary shelter, the new facility will emphasize getting residents employed. It will be run by Westhab, a Westchester-based non-profit.
The Summerfield Street shelter will open by end of 2020 and is aimed at enabling homeless Queens children to continue to go to their neighborhood schools, Banks said. CORE Services Group, which has worked with the city on other shelters, will run this one.
The Department of Social Services promised to establish “community advisory boards” that will work with residents in the area.
QNS
The Cooper Avenue site will house 200 single individuals who are currently employed or seeking employment and open in early 2020.
Holden said in an Aug. 23 press release that Westhab, a service provider based in Westchester County, will operate the Glendale shelter. “A significant portion of the men housed at the shelter will be from the now–closed Maspeth Holiday Inn temporary shelter, per DHS,” according to Holden’s office.
The Ridgewood location, located at a former factory at 1616 Summerfield St., will house 132 families with children with a late 2020 opening date.
Priority at both locations will be given to those originally from Community Board 5, most of which is represented by Holden, who are experiencing hardship, DHS said.
“Homeless New Yorkers come from every community across the five boroughs, so we need every community to come together to address homelessness,” a DHS statement read. “With zero shelters in Queens Community District 5, these sites will give individuals and families with children the opportunity to get back on their feet closer to their anchors of life. Working together with neighbors and not-for-profit service provider partners, we’re confident that these New Yorkers will be warmly welcomed—and through collaborative support and compassion, we will make this the best experience it can be for these individuals as they get back on their feet.”
Holden claimed that he and others would rally against the plan to provide services to about 330 in southwestern Queens, which DHS claims has no full service shelters at this point in time.
“I along with other elected have just been informed by [DHS] that they intend on moving forward with a shelter in Glendale,” Holden said on Twitter. “We’ll be meeting with community leaders/members in the coming days to start planning how we as a community will fight against this irresponsible decision.”
A furious Holden blasted the city on Aug. 23 for not considering his alternate plan to build a school on the site instead of a shelter.
“I am disgusted with the way City Hall does business when it comes to housing the homeless,” said Holden. “I presented a strong plan to have a new District 75 school built on the Cooper Avenue property and I was told by all involved city agencies that this was an ideal solution. But as soon as DOE Chancellor Richard Carranza got involved, he decided it would be better to continue wasting our tax dollars and let the District 75 special needs students suffer in a century-old building surrounded by heavy truck traffic.”
Holden was a driving force in the protests against homeless shelters in Queens during the 2016 demonstrations in the midst of a homelessness crisis. Since then, he has used that influence, in part, to successful unseat former Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley in November 2017.
“I tried to fight against this shelter the right way, by negotiating with city agencies and coming up with reasonable proposals, only to have the rug pulled out from under me,” added Holden on Friday.
“I was told countless times that DHS and SCA loved my plan to build a new school on Cooper Ave, and the Mayor’s approval was all that was needed. But the mayor recently told me he knew nothing about the plan. I’m sick of playing this game with City Hall, so now I will fight back the best way I know how, with my neighbors by my side.”
Among the complaints against shelters in nearly any part of the borough, critics often point to the proximity of facilities to schools or cite the areas lack of accommodations such as transportation or grocery stores.
State Senator Joseph Addabbo also vowed to oppose what he deemed to be “large scale” shelters in favor of smaller facilities he views as more appropriate for the community.
“With my district on the verge of having Mayor De Blasio place a fourth large population of homeless men within its boundaries, most recently proposed for Glendale, I will continue to oppose larger scaled shelters with limited services and inadequate transportation, while advocating for smaller, more community-appropriate sites that would better serve the homeless individuals in need,” Addabbo said. “What about utilizing city-owned sites and properties for cost-efficient modular housing as done in other states? What about developing abandoned zombie homes and providing a better living environment for homeless families, especially the children? I guess after witnessing 5 years of the De Blasio administration’s treatment of the homeless crisis, we may never know the answers.”
This decision comes over a year and a half after the city said they were not going to make it a shelter.
(Also, neither Cooper Ave nor Summerfield Street are anywhere near Maspeth.)
The Ridgewood location, located at a former factory at 1616 Summerfield St., will house 132 families with children with a late 2020 opening date.
Priority at both locations will be given to those originally from Community Board 5, most of which is represented by Holden, who are experiencing hardship, DHS said.
“Homeless New Yorkers come from every community across the five boroughs, so we need every community to come together to address homelessness,” a DHS statement read. “With zero shelters in Queens Community District 5, these sites will give individuals and families with children the opportunity to get back on their feet closer to their anchors of life. Working together with neighbors and not-for-profit service provider partners, we’re confident that these New Yorkers will be warmly welcomed—and through collaborative support and compassion, we will make this the best experience it can be for these individuals as they get back on their feet.”
Holden claimed that he and others would rally against the plan to provide services to about 330 in southwestern Queens, which DHS claims has no full service shelters at this point in time.
“I along with other elected have just been informed by [DHS] that they intend on moving forward with a shelter in Glendale,” Holden said on Twitter. “We’ll be meeting with community leaders/members in the coming days to start planning how we as a community will fight against this irresponsible decision.”
A furious Holden blasted the city on Aug. 23 for not considering his alternate plan to build a school on the site instead of a shelter.
“I am disgusted with the way City Hall does business when it comes to housing the homeless,” said Holden. “I presented a strong plan to have a new District 75 school built on the Cooper Avenue property and I was told by all involved city agencies that this was an ideal solution. But as soon as DOE Chancellor Richard Carranza got involved, he decided it would be better to continue wasting our tax dollars and let the District 75 special needs students suffer in a century-old building surrounded by heavy truck traffic.”
Holden was a driving force in the protests against homeless shelters in Queens during the 2016 demonstrations in the midst of a homelessness crisis. Since then, he has used that influence, in part, to successful unseat former Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley in November 2017.
“I tried to fight against this shelter the right way, by negotiating with city agencies and coming up with reasonable proposals, only to have the rug pulled out from under me,” added Holden on Friday.
“I was told countless times that DHS and SCA loved my plan to build a new school on Cooper Ave, and the Mayor’s approval was all that was needed. But the mayor recently told me he knew nothing about the plan. I’m sick of playing this game with City Hall, so now I will fight back the best way I know how, with my neighbors by my side.”
Among the complaints against shelters in nearly any part of the borough, critics often point to the proximity of facilities to schools or cite the areas lack of accommodations such as transportation or grocery stores.
State Senator Joseph Addabbo also vowed to oppose what he deemed to be “large scale” shelters in favor of smaller facilities he views as more appropriate for the community.
“With my district on the verge of having Mayor De Blasio place a fourth large population of homeless men within its boundaries, most recently proposed for Glendale, I will continue to oppose larger scaled shelters with limited services and inadequate transportation, while advocating for smaller, more community-appropriate sites that would better serve the homeless individuals in need,” Addabbo said. “What about utilizing city-owned sites and properties for cost-efficient modular housing as done in other states? What about developing abandoned zombie homes and providing a better living environment for homeless families, especially the children? I guess after witnessing 5 years of the De Blasio administration’s treatment of the homeless crisis, we may never know the answers.”
This decision comes over a year and a half after the city said they were not going to make it a shelter.
(Also, neither Cooper Ave nor Summerfield Street are anywhere near Maspeth.)
20 comments:
We're gonna need a bigger shelter!
A gift to the real estate industry. They know that the old, white population will sell off now. Then the home gets ripped down, and the itilitarian shitbox goes ip 8n its place.
The city is hellbent on divesting the city of its middle class and old whites, thus allowing chinese equity to come in and erect the the most awful, brutalistic structures in the history of the US.
Sure. Why should people bother to work when the city will provide them housing? And, they don't even have to be citizens to get on the gravy train. Just sneak over the border and you have won free housing, free food, free medical care, free education for your illiterate kids who have rarely seen the inside of a classroom, free legal help---all coming from people who may not even have all of that for themselves.
Carranza is easily the worst schools chancellor NYC has seen, not counting Bloombutt's cocktail circle wonder. WHEN is he going to be thrown out? It is already obvious that he is on a tear to fire white supervisors and replace them with Hispanics, as is the latest case with Ms. Altshul. He is on a campaign to use his captive audience of kids to indoctrinate them on socialism, communism, and other anti-American societal constructs. He doesn't care for kids with special needs. He only cares about spreading LaRaza BS. Fire his incompetent butt and kick him out.
Affordable housing, DeBozo style.
How much do you want to bet all the welfare NYCHA families from the Frederick Douglass Houses(the projects) will be living in this shelter. So get ready. Now that these projects just became private.
Oh my god, homeless single men are the worst. The only thing worse is homeless families. Or vice versa. Both are bad. It's a toss-up. I propose Bus Ticket Therapy-- free bus tickets back to where they REALLY originally come from.
""illiterate kids who have rarely seen the inside of a classroom""
Spot on comments, and it worse then that.
Our kids can no learn because these kids are so feral and disruptive in the classroom. These boys from Mexico and Central America are also an average 2-3 years older and they are going after the girls, touching, grabbing. Non exsistant self control or temperament. The teachers wont do a dam thing about it, they been told to leave them alone its a cultural issue, stop being racist and adapt to the multiculturalism that makes New York great.
My cousin was furious, took his girls out of school, went into hock and bought a house on Long Island, NYC schools are becoming primate cages at the zoo.
Homeless families are the worse because they are usually undocumented family units with 4 or more illiterate kids that screw up the schools.
They take up enormous resources, the females get pregnant by age 15 and drop out anyway. These people are behaving the same way they did in their bankrupt home shithole country's on our dollar
A D75 school? D75 serves special needs student exclusively - concentrating them in one place (like concentrating the chronically homeless) leads to mini-Willowbrooks: putting all the "problems" in one place, thus screwing both the people who are being "helped" AND the local community. In the end, only the private Agencies are helped.
A factory building for families? We can only hope an honest asbestos inspector does the testing...
These shelters are a cash cow for the operators. Why is a Westchester group on the gravy train? (BTW, Willowbrook was called a cash cow by several investigators, decades before it closed).
25 years from now, all of Queens will be one huge homeless shelter.
Bigger schools are needed, more teachers, and more NON-LUXURY housing. The city's homeless population is way understated, shelters are at best a temporary band-aid that does not address the root causes: no jobs for working class people one or two paychecks from being on the streets, and a city catering to the very, very poor or extremely wealthy.
I live in one of these neighborhoods and you could immediately see the effects of these shelters in the nearby area. Things are going to get worse if they set more up.
Someone mentioned the city wanting to force this on 'old whites'. That's partially accurate. Since the hipsters gentrified Greenpoint a lot more Polish people have concentrated in this area. Some are buying homes and starting families. It's not just "old" Whites that will be victimized by this.
"4 or more illiterate kids that screw up the schools."
Yes and usally these same people are illiterate in their home-country as well !
Bringing the zoo to your block. Get ready for full diapers and half eaten containers of Chinese food thrown out the window towards pedestrians. Graffiti, loud music, drug dealing, pit bull breeding, hair braiding out of doors, living out of doors.They will be hostile, probably carrying guns and have an attitude since the Central Park 5 were paid for raping a white woman and nearly killing her, where's their pay off for being criminals? Once DeBlasio is gone so goes Stephen Banks.
I love when a comment isn’t posted blaming local pols
Wish this was more independent
I wish this site was more independent
You cannot comment on locals pols for they’re lack of work ethic and success
Criticizing BH is a no go
But it’s his fault
The shelters will be exclusively for black and illegal aliens whose sole occupation is to pop out offspring to ensure housing, government benefits for themselves and anchor babies to aid chain migration. Remember when it was considered shameful for an unwed young woman to get pregnant? Yes that was cruel except now it's a chosen career path. If there are any white women allowed in these shelters , it will be because they had children by a black man.
So much for diversity - according to the special interest groups any government goodies are for blacks and illegal aliens only.
These women plan to have children with out being married as a economic strategy.
There's no need for reading or writing as long as you listen to rap music.
Bastard Mayor is attracting these refugees, illegals, druggies & homeless from other citys like fly's. Somebody came in the gate and took a shit down on my basement steps
Is deBlasshole trying to copy California or la Puebla Mexico?
California = A massive bleeding heart liberal shithole with a homeless crisis so bad business owners tell how they confront illegal males busting into everything, naked junkies and streets covered in feces, urine and syringes daily.
This getting worse with no solution in sight and this is Sacramento ---its worse then that as you go south !!
No, Molly O'Duckey wants to turn us into Miami so we can vote for Rubio
200 single homeless men and 132 homeless families with children!
Why Glendale got punished with two permanent shelters??? Maspeth's temporary shelter moved to Glendale???
What is this ?!?
Homeless man chooses to be homeless cause he gets shelter and food and clothing and does not need to work!!!
Homeless families keep being “homeless” and keep making more children because they got more “free” money that are taken from us, the taxpayers that work our butts off to have decent living!!!
Nothing good will come from these shelters, only bad things!!!
Let’s City officials, including mayor, move these homeless people and these shelters next to their place of leaving!!! What they do not want to see this crap nearby their homes?
We do not need homeless people in our neighborhood because right now we do not have them as contrasting to what the Citi is implying.
Someone wants Glendale to become less attractive so price of the homes would go down and obvious groups will buy them for half price, would move in with their multi-children families, use and abuse the homes without putting anything to improve them and then sell ruined homes and move to the next neighborhood. Kew Gardens and Williamsburg got too expensive so they are looking for next location to ruin!!! Shelters are one thing for the owner of the Cooper property to make money but also to serve the above purpose.
Let’s attend the October 7th at 7:30pm meeting at Christ the King HS on Metropolitan Avenue and let’s them hear our OPPOSITION TO SHELTERS in our backyards!!!
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